F  160  . G3  R67  1923 

Rosenberger,  Jesse  Leonard 
b.  1860.  '  ' 

The  Pennsylvania  Germans 


i 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


THE  BAKER  AND  TAYLOR  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK 


THE  CAMBRIDGE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

LONDON 

THE  MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA 

TOKYO,  OSAKA,  KYOTO,  FUKUOKA,  SENDAI 

THE  MISSION  BOOK  COMPANY 


SHANGHAI 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


https://archive.org/details/pennsylvaniagerm00rose_1 


Jesse  Rosenberger,  1827-1909 

Shoemaker,  Farmer,  Nurseryman,  and  Sometime  (Baptist)  Preacher 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA 


GERMANS 


5F 


A  Sketch  of  Their  History  and  Life,  MAR  3  A  192 <1 


of  the  Mennonites,  and  of  Sidv^>. 

Lights  from  the  Rosenberger  F  amily^${ffi  0  AL 


£v 

JESSE  LEONARD  ROSENBERGER 

Author  of  Through  Three  Centuries,  Etc. 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 
CHICAGO  ILLINOIS 


Copyright  1923  By 
The  University  of  Chicago 


All  Rights  Reserved 


Published  November  1923 


Composed  and  Printed  By 
The  University  of  Chicago  Press 
Chicago,  Illinois,  U.S.A. 


PREFACE 


This  volume  is  the  outgrowth  of  an  effort  on 
the  part  of  the  author  to  get  from  the  accounts 
that  have  been  preserved  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Germans  in  general  and  from  various  other  sources 
such  light  as  he  could  on  the  probable  history  and 
life  of  some  of  his  forbears,  who  disdained  to 
keep  any  records  of  themselves  or  chronicles  of 
their  times.  By  putting  into  this  form  the  more 
important  results  of  his  study,  with  some  of  the 
matter  brought  down  into  1923,  he  hopes  that  it 
may  be  useful  to  others. 

General  historical  importance  is  attached  to  the 
Pennsylvania  Germans  not  only  because  they 
contributed  largely  to  the  development  and  enrich¬ 
ment  of  their  state,  particularly  agriculturally, 
but  also  because  until  within  comparatively 
recent  times  they  lived  practically  by  themselves 
and  tenaciously  maintained,  with  local  variations, 
the  language,  views,  and  customs  which  the 
German  settlers  in  Pennsylvania  brought  from  the 


VI 


PREFACE 


Old  World.  But  most  of  these  distinctive  and 
interesting  features  are  now  rapidly  being  changed, 
or  they  have  already  been  changed. 

Practically  all  of  the  illustrations,  with  the 
exception  of  the  frontispiece,  are  from  photographs 
which  were  taken  during  the  past  year  especially 
for  them. 

Jesse  Leonard  Rosenberger 

Chicago 
October,  1923 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

List  of  Illustrations . ix 

CHAPTER 

I.  The  Pennsylvania  Background.  ...  i 
II.  Hardships  Left  and  Encountered  ...  n 

III.  With  the  Pioneers . 24 

IV.  General  Life  and  Changes . 42 

V.  Religion  and  Education . 69 

VI.  The  Mennonites . 86 

VII.  Proverbs  and  Superstitions . 127 

VIII.  Gleanings  from  Old  Records  ....  139 

Index . 165 


vii 


I 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING 

PAGE 

Jesse  Rosenberger,  1827-1909 . iii 

Scene  at  the  Village  oe  Skippack,  with  Daisies 

in  the  Foreground .  4 

Scene  on  Indian  Creek,  near  Harleysville  .  4 

A  Bit  of  Skippack  Creek . 10 

Perkiomen  Creek  and  Bridge  Built  in  1798-99, 

AT  COLLEGEVILLE . IO 

Types  of  Amish  Men,  Women,  and  Children  of 

Lancaster  County . 24 

Winter  Scene  on  Conestoga  Creek,  South  of 

Lancaster . 36 

“ Snake”  or  “Worm”  Fences . 36 

Stone  House  of  1809  on  Former  Heinrich 

Rosenberger  Farm . 44 

The  Rittenhouse  Home  Built  in  1707,  near 

Germantown . 44 

Curb-Market  Scenes  in  Lancaster  ....  50 

The  Oldest  Building  in  Lancaster — Former 

“Plough”  Tavern  .  62 

A  Row  of  Old-Style  Buildings,  Including  What 

Was  the  “Cat”  Tavern . 62 

The  Oldest  Lutheran  Church  in  America,  at 

Trappe . 70 

Lutheran  Church  Built  in  1767,  at  New  Han¬ 
over  . 70 


IX 


X 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACING 

PAGE 

The  Oldest  Schoolhouse  in  Germantown  .  .  76 

Cloister  Buildings  at  Ephrata  of  Early  German 

Seventh  Day  Baptists . 76 

A  Typical  Old  Public  Schoolhouse,  at  Fran¬ 
conia  . 84 

Amish  Boys  Playing  Ball  at  Intermission  of 

School . 84 

The  Oldest  Mennonite  Church  in  America,  at 

Germantown . 90 

The  Oldest  Building  in  Lancaster  County — 

Herr  House  Built  in  1719 . 90 

Mennonite  Log  Meeting-House  Built  about 

1790,  AT  LaNDISVILLE . 96 

Corner  of  Interior  of  Old  Mennonite  Church 

in  Montgomery  County . 96 

Mennonite  Churches:  At  Franconia,  Line  Lex¬ 
ington,  Worcester,  Millwood,  Mellinger’s, 

AND  StRASBURG . 108 

Farm  Buildings  of  an  Amish  Mennonite  in 

Lancaster  County . 122 

An  Old  Springhouse  in  Montgomery  County  .  122 

Old  Stone  House  Perhaps  Built  by  Christian 

Rosenberger . 150 

Part  of  Old  Cider  Press  and  Flowers  of  the 

Wild  Carrot . 150 


CHAPTER  I 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  BACKGROUND 

The  general  panoramic  view  in  that  portion  of 
southeastern  Pennsylvania  that  may  be  termed 
the  original  and  distinctive  home  of  the  Pennsylva¬ 
nia  Germans  is  an  attractive  one  that  is  enhanced 
by  the  nature  of  the  region,  which  is  mainly  a 
land  of  low  hills  and  gently  sloping  valleys. 

In  the  spring  of  the  year,  and  again  in  the 
autumn,  a  person  sees  there  farms  that,  for 
purposes  of  diversification  and  rotation  of  crops, 
have  been  subdivided  into  fields,  which,  when 
looked  at  together,  have  a  certain  pleasing 
harmony  and  contrast  of  form  and  color — one 
field,  perhaps,  being  a  green  meadow;  another 
field,  brownish  plowed  ground;  and  a  third,  an 
area  of  yellowish  stubble.  Then,  there  are  small 
orchards,  considerable  tracts  of  woodland,  and, 
very  frequently,  particularly  along  the  fences, 
occasional  trees  that  in  summer  may  afford  a 
grateful  shade  for  weary  toilers,  or — when  in 


2 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


pastures — for  cattle.  But  what  possibly  most 
attract  the  eyes  of  the  observer  are  the  clusters  of 
farm  buildings  that  are  usually  prominent  in  the 
picture,  which  latter  may  sometimes  be  made 
still  more  interesting  by  the  inclusion  in  it  of  a 
rural  church  spire,  of  a  small  hamlet,  or  of  a 
moderately  pretentious  village. 

During  the  summer  the  scene  is  changed  by  the 
transformation  of  what  earlier  was  bare  ground 
into,  first,  luxuriant  fields  of  green,  and,  later, 
of  ripened  grain — some  of  the  fields  being  of 
wheat,  some  of  corn,  and  some  of  other  cereals 
or  crops.  At  the  same  time,  the  trees,  with  their 
abundant  foliage  prevent  monotony. 

The  landscape  is  also  fine  to  look  upon  in  winter, 
especially  when  everything  is  covered  with  snow, 
sparkling  under  a  bright  sunlight,  the  broad 
expanse  of  brilliant  white  being  bounded  by  a 
somewhat  shadowy  circle  of  distant  hills,  and 
cross-marked  by  fences  and  trees.  This  scene  is 
improved,  too,  by  the  groups  of  buildings  which 
almost  always  include  both  a  house  and  a  barn  of 
good  dimensions,  one  of  which  two  buildings  may 
be  white,  and  the  other  a  bright  red  or  a  rich 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  BACKGROUND 


3 


yellow,  relieved  in  a  measure  by  an  adjacent 
orchard  or  a  grove  of  dark  trees  that,  dismantled, 
often  permit  of  a  better  view  of  the  buildings  than 
is  obtainable  from  a  distance  in  the  summer. 

So  far  as  the  view  thus  described  is  the  prod¬ 
uct  of  human  labor,  it  is  the  product  of  the 
labor  for  approximately  two  centuries  of  successive 
generations  of  conscientious,  sturdy,  patient, 
hard-working,  thrifty  Pennsylvania  Germans. 

Two  hundred  years — or  nearly  that — ago, 
when  Heinrich  Rosenberger  settled  as  a  pioneer 
about  30  miles  northwest  of  Philadelphia,  in 
Indian  Creek  Valley  in  what  is  now  Franconia 
Township,  Montgomery  County,  what  he  saw 
was  very  different  from  the  present  scene.  The 
hills  and  the  valleys  were  there,  and  everywhere 
in  the  surrounding  country,  substantially  as  they 
are  today,  but  they  were  then  as  yet  untilled  by 
man,  were  covered  with  a  heavy  forest  of  princi¬ 
pally  oak  timber,  and  at  best  contained  not  more 
than  a  few  log  huts,  which  were  widely  separated 
from  one  another.  The  preceding  human  inhabit¬ 
ants  of  the  region,  some  of  whom  might  still  be 
seen  in  some  localities,  were  the  Lenni-Lenape,  or 


4 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


Delaware  Indians.  Other  denizens  of  the  section 
were  bears  and  wolves,  deer,  many  species  of 
smaller  wild  animals,  wild  turkeys,  game  and 
other  birds  of  many  kinds  including  at  times 
great  flocks  of  pigeons  and  crows. 

One  particular  feature  of  that  land  of  hills  and 
valleys  that  appealed  strongly  to  the  first  white 
settlers  was  that  there  flowed  through  some  of  the 
valleys  large  creeks,  and  through  many  of  the 
other  valleys  picturesque  little  streams  of  sparkling 
water,  the  most  of  which  are  too  small  to  be  seen 
in  a  general  outlook  over  the  country.  Along 
these  creeks,  or  beside  these  little  brooks,  the 
early  settlers  built  their  log  cabins,  because  they 
were  thus  assured  of  having  plenty  of  water  for 
domestic  use  and  for  the  live  stock  which  they 
looked  forward  to  possessing.  Nor  were  people  in 
those  days  troubled  with  fears  of  such  waterways 
becoming  polluted  and  conveying  the  germs  of 
typhoid  fever,  or  forming  places  for  breeding 
disease-spreading  mosquitos,  especially  those  carry¬ 
ing  malaria. 

The  Germans  were  not  of  any  appreciable 
number  or  influence  among  the  first  white  settlers 


Scene  at  the  Village  of  Skippack,  with  Daisies  in  the  Foreground 


Scene  on  Indian  Creek,  near  Harleysvii.le 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  BACKGROUND 


5 


in  what  is  now  Pennsylvania,  although  there  were 
a  few  Germans  among  the  very  early  arrivals 
there.  The  discovery  of  the  Delaware  River  is 
attributed  to  Henry  Hudson,  in  1609.  He  called 
it  the  “South  River/’  in  contradistinction  to 
what  he  termed  the  “North  River,”  which  is  now 
the  Hudson.  In  1623  the  Dutch  began  settling 
in  small  numbers  along  a  portion  of  the  Delaware. 
They  devoted  themselves  chiefly  to  trading  with 
the  Indians  for  beaver  skins  and  other  furs. 
What  is  now  Pennsylvania  was  included  in  what 
they  claimed  as  New  Netherland.  Commencing 
in  1638,  the  Swedes  established  colonies  at  several 
places,  notably  on  the  west  side  of  the  Delaware, 
and  to  a  limited  extent  on  the  Schuylkill.  They 
were  largely  farmers,  who  used  the  waterways  as 
their  highways  for  travel.  To  them  the  whole 
region  was  known  as  New  Sweden.  The  English 
title  dated  ultimately  from  1674.  On  March  4, 
1681,  the  charter  for  the  province  of  Pennsylvania 
was  granted  by  Charles  the  Second  to  William 
Penn. 

On  October  28,  1682,  Penn  landed  at  Upland, 
which  was  then  the  capital.  He  changed  its 


6 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


name  to  Chester;  and  subsequently  Philadelphia, 
which  was  laid  out  in  1682,  was  made  the  capital 
of  the  province.  The  total  white  population  of 
the  province  in  1681  was  between  two  and  three 
thousand  persons,  the  most  of  whom  were  English¬ 
men  and  Swedes.  During  the  next  two  or  three 
years  there  were  added  considerable  numbers  of 
people  from  England,  Ireland,  and  Wales,  many 
of  them  being  Friends  or  Quakers — in  other  words, 
of  the  same  religious  convictions  as  was  Penn 
himself.  In  1683  Penn  stated  that  Philadelphia 
had  about  fourscore  houses  and  cottages.  In 
October,  1684,  another  man  wrote  that  it  was 
supposed  there  were  then  in  the  city  four  hundred 
houses,  great  and  small.  An  estimate  made  with 
regard  to  the  population  of  the  province  in  1684 
indicated  that  it  had  been  about  doubled  in  three 
years. 

The  first  historically  important  arrivals  in 
Pennsylvania  credited  to  the  Germans  were  of 
Francis  Daniel  Pastorius  in  August,  1683,  and  of 
thirteen  families  (thirty-three  persons)  in  October, 
1683,  these  families  being  from  Crefeld,  near 
Holland,  which  undoubtedly  accounted  in  one 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  BACKGROUND 


7 


way  or  another  for  some  of  them  having  Dutch 
names.  Pastorius  came  as  the  representative  of 
what  was  designated  the  Frankfort  Land  Com¬ 
pany,  an  association  of  persons  in  Frankfort, 
Germany,  which  purchased  25,000  acres  of  land 
and  used  it  for  speculative  purposes.  He  was 
a  man  of  good  education,  had  a  legal  training,  and 
drew  legal  papers  and  wrote  letters  for  persons 
desiring  such  services;  but  for  his  main  vocation 
he  soon  engaged  in  teaching  school,  which  he 
continued  for  about  twenty  years. 

Pastorius  was  decidedly  of  the  opinion  that 
it  would  be  for  the  best  interests  of  the  Germans 
to  settle  by  themselves,  and  not  to  be  intermingled 
with  the  English,  which  he  succeeded  in  inaugurat¬ 
ing  by  obtaining,  though  not  without  difficulty, 
a  warrant  for  6,000  acres  of  land  in  one  tract — 
3,000  acres  of  it  for  the  Cref elders  and  3,000  acres 
for  the  Frankfort  Land  Company.  The  location 
of  the  tract  was  some  distance  from  the  Delaware 
because  all  the  land  along  the  river  had  been 
previously  taken  by  others.  On  a  part  of  the 
tract,  Germantown  was  founded  through  a  survey 
on  October  24,  1683.  In  its  early  form  and 


8 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


development  it  was  much  like  some  of  the  old 
villages  which  may  still  be  seen,  notably  in  Lan¬ 
caster  County,  in  that  it  was  built  mainly  along 
the  sides  of  one  street.  It  eventually  attained 
about  2  miles  in  length.  It  soon  became  important 
as  a  center  both  of  industry  and  of  influence 
among  the  Germans,  in  which  latter  respect  it 
long  maintained  a  supremacy.  Thus  began  the 
separation  of  the  German  and  the  English  settlers 
which  was  in  the  course  of  time  to  become  very 
striking  and  was  to  contribute  much  toward  the 
production  of  the  Pennsylvania- German  character. 

In  a  letter  which  he  wrote  from  Philadelphia 
on  March  7,  1684,  Pastorius  described  German¬ 
town  as  being  two  hours  distant  from  Philadelphia; 
that  is,  what  is  now  a  part  of  the  latter  city  was 
then  about  6  miles  from  the  city.  According  to 
that  letter,  there  was  little  open  space  to  be  found 
but  everywhere  only  forests,  in  which  there  were 
massive  oaks.  On  October  16,  beautiful  violets 
were  found  in  the  woods,  and  on  the  twenty-fifth 
there  was  discovered  a  wild  grapevine  that  ran 
over  a  tree  and  had  about  four  hundred  clusters 
of  grapes.  The  wild  grapes,  however,  were 
rather  small,  and  better  for  eating  than  for 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  BACKGROUND 


9 


making  wine  from  them.  The  walnuts  found  in 
the  woods  had  such  thick  shells  and  small  kernels 
that  it  was  deemed  scarcely  worth  the  trouble  of 
opening  them.  The  chestnuts  and  the  hazelnuts 
found  were  better.  Of  rattlesnakes  there  were 
more  than  were  liked.  But  through  the  winter 
of  1683-84,  which  was  a  very  cold  one,  no  game 
could  be  found,  although,  according  to  some  other 
accounts,  game  of  various  kinds  was  usually 
plentiful,  in  early  years. 

From  that  time  on  a  gradually  increasing 
number  of  Germans  came  to  make  their  homes  in 
Pennsylvania,  until  they  amounted  to  about 
one-third  of  the  total  population  of  the  province, 
which  latter  the  first  census  gave  as  434,373  in 
1790.  As  three-fourths  of  these  Germans  were 
farmers  who  came  with  but  little  money,  as  time 
passed  they  went  farther  and  farther  from  Phila¬ 
delphia  and  from  Germantown  to  get  their  land, 
seeking  as  much  as  possible  locations  where  there 
were  no  settlers  of  other  nationalities,  and  taking 
land  that  then  was  not  much  desired  by  others  on 
account  of  its  distance  from  Philadelphia,  the 
labor  required  to  clear  it,  and  perhaps  a  mis¬ 
apprehension  as  to  the  quality  of  the  soil.  Thus 


IO 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


it  came  about  that  the  Germans  were  soon  pushing 
their  way  northwesterly  toward  the  Skippack 
and  the  Perkiomen  creeks,  in  Montgomery  County. 
Thence  they  went  northward  into  Lehigh,  east¬ 
ward  into  Bucks,  and  westward  into  Berks,  as 
well  as  began  early  to  settle  in  Lancaster  and  other 
counties,  as  the  counties  are  at  present  formed 
and  named. 

Nor  was  the  settlement  of  the  Germans  by 
themselves  so  far  as  practicable  their  only  form 
of  segregation.  Naturally  people  who  came  from 
the  same  locality  in  Germany,  or  who  were 
related  to  one  another,  endeavored  to  settle  as 
near  together  as  circumstances  permitted.  But  of 
greater  general  consequence  was  the  extension  of 
this  tendency  to  the  members  of  different  religious 
denominations  and  sects,  so  that  there  were 
numerous  distinct  settlements  of  them,  which 
helped  very  much  toward  the  organization  of 
churches  and  the  establishment  of  schools. 

Some  of  the  reasons  why  the  Germans  came 
to  America  as  they  did  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
and  what  many  of  them  suffered  on  the  way,  are 
explained  in  the  next  chapter. 


Perkiomen  Creek  and  Bridge  Built  in  1798-99,  at  Collegeville 


CHAPTER  II 


HARDSHIPS  LEFT  AND  ENCOUNTERED 

According  to  tradition,  Heinrich  Rosenberger 
came  from  Zweibrlicken,  in  the  Palatinate.  It 
may  be  conjectured  that  he  came  prior  to  1727, 
because,  while  he  might  have  come  through  some 
other  port,  he  probably  came  through  that  of 
Philadelphia,  and,  beginning  in  that  year,  records 
were  kept  of  the  arrivals  at  the  port  of  Phila¬ 
delphia,  and  his  name  does  not  appear  in  any  of  the 
lists.  Why  he  came,  as  also  why  many  other 
Germans  came,  can  best  be  explained  by  referring 
to  certain  historical  events.  A  consideration  of 
these  will  also  aid  to  a  better  understanding  of 
the  general  type  of  the  Pennsylvania  Germans. 

Heavy  toll  was  taken  of  the  people  of  Germany 
by  the  Thirty  Years’  War  which  ended  in  1648. 
Some  authorities  compute  that  through  it  at  least 
two-thirds  of  the  population  perished,  and  that 
more  than  two-thirds  of  the  domestic  animals 
and  other  forms  of  personal  property  were  either 


12 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


consumed  or  destroyed.  After  that  there  contin¬ 
ued  for  years  an  application  of  the  torch  and  a 
pillaging  by  bands  of  soldiers  from  the  troops 
which  were  still  quartered  on  the  inhabitants  of 
various  localities. 

The  next  generation  had  the  War  of  the  Grand 
Alliance,  and  not  long  afterward  occurred  the 
War  of  the  Spanish  Succession,  which  lasted  until 
1713;  and  from  these  wars  the  Palatinate  in  par¬ 
ticular  suffered,  as  it  had  from  the  Thirty  Years’ 
War. 

The  peasants  or  farmers  who  survived  that 
period  had  little,  or  nothing  left.  As  a  rule, 
the  most  of  their  furniture  and  their  implements, 
their  live  stock  and  their  poultry  had  either  been 
taken  from  them  or  wantonly  destroyed,  and  their 
houses  had  been  burned,  or  razed.  Consequently 
thereafter  they  found  themselves  with  poor  shelter, 
few  furnishings,  scanty  rations,  and  not  much 
besides  their  hands  with  which  to  do  anything. 
They  might  be  called  the  owners  of  their  usually 
small  farms;  but  the  majority  of  them  had  to 
the  lands  only  limited  titles,  to  which  were  attached 
many  burdensome  conditions  and  restrictions, 


HARDSHIPS  LEFT  AND  ENCOUNTERED  13 


while  at  any  time  they  might  be  compelled  to 
sell  their  interest  in  their  land.  Three  whole 
days,  or  six  half-days,  each  week,  with  his  team, 
if  he  had  one,  must  each  farmer  work  for  the 
landlord  to  whom  his  obligations  ran.  The  land¬ 
lord  must  be  given  a  share  of  all  the  grains, 
fruits,  and  vegetables  raised.  He  must  be  offered 
first  whatever  the  farmer  had  to  sell,  and  whatever 
the  farmer  wanted  to  buy  must  be  bought  from 
him,  if  he  had  it  to  sell.  He  had  a  supervision 
over  the  marriage  of  the  farmer’s  children,  and 
a  fine  had  to  be  paid  to  him  for  every  marriage, 
while  to  each  of  his  own  children  when  they  got 
married  presents  had  to  be  given.  Moreover,  he 
had  a  right  to  call  into  his  service  for  several  years 
any  of  the  farmer’s  children  who  were  able  to 
work.  Nor  could  they  enter  service  elsewhere 
without  first  purchasing  a  license  from  him;  and 
he  took  special  pains  to  prevent  their  flight. 
His  permission  must  also  be  obtained  for  the 
farmer  to  change  his  vocation,  or  to  be  away 
overnight.  In  addition,  there  was  taxation  by 
the  state,  and  the  farmer  and  his  sons  were 
subject  to  military  service. 


14 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


Both  the  nobility  and  the  artisan  class  treated 
the  farmers  or  peasantry  as  being  at  the  bottom 
of  the  social  scale,  and  they  showed  such  a  deter¬ 
mination  to  keep  them  there  that  neither  the 
peasants  nor  their  children  had  any  appreciable 
chance  to  change  their  lot  or  to  irfiprove  their 
condition.  In  the  sphere  into  which  they  were 
born  they  must  expect  to  live  and  die.  In  short, 
life  for  them  was  but  a  round  of  hard,  monotonous 
toil,  the  most  of  the  fruits  of  which  went  to  the 
support  of  the  state  and  the  nobility. 

Then  there  was  always  more  or  less  religious 
persecution.  The  Palatinate  at  times  furnished 
an  asylum  for  the  religiously  oppressed,  and  at 
other  times  was  a  place  of  oppression  and  persecu¬ 
tion.  Whichever  of  these  characters  it  at  any 
time  manifested  depended  on  the  character  of 
the  reigning  elector,  whether  he  was  tolerant  or 
not,  and  to  what  church  he  adhered.  Thus, 
along  in  the  seventeenth  century,  one  elector 
belonged  to  the  Reformed  church,  his  successor 
to  the  Lutheran  church,  and  the  next  one  to  the 
Catholic  church,  and  each  one  of  them  believed 
in  the  common  doctrine  of  his  day  that  the  religion 


HARDSHIPS  LEFT  AND  ENCOUNTERED  1 5 


of  the  ruler  should  be  that  of  his  people,  which  he 
endeavored  to  enforce. 

Out  of  these  conditions  there  quite  naturally 
arose  a  desire  that  grew  into  a  purpose  on  the  part 
of  many  of  these  sufferers  from  ill  fortune  and 
oppression  to  seek  in  the  New  World  the  peace 
and  the  independence  which  had  been  denied  to 
them  in  the  fatherland,  and  which  they  yearned 
after  for  themselves  as  well  as  coveted  for  their 
children,  with  the  opportunity  in  addition  for 
the  latter  to  better  their  material  and  social 
conditions.  These  aspirations  and  determination 
were  in  some  instances  created,  and  in  others 
developed,  by  the  various  forms  of  advertising 
done  by  Penn  to  secure  good  settlers  for  his 
province;  by  the  activities  of  subordinate  colon¬ 
izers,  exploiters,  and  shipowners;  by  agents; 
by  widely  distributed  pamphlets;  by  reports 
from  one  person  to  another;  and  by  letters  from 
relatives  or  friends  who  had  already  gone  to 
Pennsylvania  and  were  pleased  therewith. 

Large  numbers  of  the  Palatines  in  particular 
were  moved  to  seek  this  land  of  promise.  In  fact, 
so  numerous  were  they  that  for  many  years  all  the 


1 6  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 

Germans  who  arrived  at  the  port  of  Philadelphia 
were  designated  Palatines,  as  if  they  all  came  from 
the  Palatinate. 

Many  of  the  Germans,  especially  those  who 
came  in  the  earlier  days  to  Pennsylvania,  while 
they  were  in  no  sense  wealthy,  had  sufficient 
money  to  pay  their  passage  and  have  enough 
left  with  which  to  buy  land  for  a  farm  and  to  get 
a  fair  start.  But  for  the  most  of  those  who,  in 
order  to  better  their  worldly  condition,  or  to 
escape  from  oppression  and  persecution,  wanted 
to  come  to  America,  it  was  a  difficult  thing  to  do. 
They  did  not  have,  as  they  could  not  under  the 
circumstances  have  been  expected  to  have,  enough 
money  for  such  an  undertaking.  Besides,  various 
obstacles  were  placed  in  their  way  by  those  who 
wanted  to  keep  them  where  they  were  to  till  the 
soil  and  to  do  other  kinds  of  work,  to  pay  the 
different  forms  of  tribute  and  taxes,  and  to  render 
militarv  service. 

Once  these  difficulties  were  overcome,  there 
remained  the  hardships  of  the  journey,  which  were 
increased  with  the  multiplication  of  the  number 
of  persons  seeking  to  make  it  far  beyond  the 


HARDSHIPS  LEFT  AND  ENCOUNTERED  17 


accommodations  for  it.  The  voyage  across  the 
Atlantic  was  generally  very  trying  because  it  had 
to  be  made  in  comparatively  small,  slow-sailing 
ships,  which  were  unconscionably  over-crowded, 
and  often  inadequately  provided  with  food  and 
water;  while  many  captains  and  avaricious  ship¬ 
owners  not  only  were  indifferent  to  the  comfort  of 
their  passengers  but  were  disregardful  of  their  lives. 

Pastorius  declared  that  the  ship  in  which  he 
came  could  be  likened  to  nothing  but  Noah’s 
Ark,  on  account  of  the  differences  in  the  ages, 
religions,  occupations,  and  social  standing  of  the 
passengers,  as  well  as  their  division  into  clean 
(reasonably)  and  unclean.  He  described  the  fare 
as  being  very  bad.  Every  ten  persons  received 
each  week  three  pounds  of  butter;  daily,  four  cans 
of  beer  and  two  cans  of  water;  at  noon,  every 
day  in  the  week,  meat;  and  three  days  at  noon, 
fish,  which  the  passengers  had  to  dress  with  their 
own  butter;  while  every  day  they  had  to  keep 
from  their  dinner  enough  for  their  supper.  But 
the  worst  of  it  all  was  that  both  the  meat  and  the 
fish  were  so  salty  and  smelled  so  strong  that 
they  were  not  palatable. 


1 8  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 

Gottlieb  Mittelberger,  a  church  organist  and 
schoolmaster,  who  came  here  in  1750  and  returned 
to  Germany  four  years  later,  said,  in  his  Journey 
to  Pennsylvania ,  that  the  journey  from  the 
Palatinate  to  Pennsylvania  required  fully  half  a 
year,  amid  such  hardships  as  no  one  could  ade¬ 
quately  describe.  One  reason  was  that  the  trip 
down  the  Rhein  from  Heilbronn  to  Holland  took 
from  four  to  six  weeks  because  there  were  thirty- 
six  custom-houses  to  be  passed,  at  all  of  which  the 
boats  (barges)  had  to  be  examined,  which  exami¬ 
nations  were  made  when  it  suited  the  convenience 
of  the  officials  to  make  them.  In  Holland  there 
was  a  further  detention  of  the  people  for  five  or 
six  weeks.  During  these  delays  many  persons  had 
to  spend  nearly  all  the  money  and  to  consume  the 
most  of  the  provisions  which  they  had  taken 
with  them.  Both  in  Rotterdam  and  in  Amster¬ 
dam,  the  usual  seaports  for  re-embarkation,  the 
passengers  were  packed  densely  in  the  ships,  like 
herrings,  it  might  be  said,  one  person  receiving  a 
place  scarcely  2  feet  wide  and  6  feet  long  for  his 
bed.  If  the  winds  were  contrary,  it  might 
require,  instead  of  eight  days  or  less,  from  two  to 


HARDSHIPS  LEFT  AND  ENCOUNTERED  19 

four  weeks  to  go  from  Holland  to  Cowes,  on  the 
Isle  of  Wight,  where  the  ship  might  be  detained 
a  week  or  two  in  order  to  complete  her  cargo. 
From  there  the  voyage  to  Philadelphia  might 
require  from  seven  to  twelve  weeks.  Not  only 
was  the  stench  on  shipboard  almost  unbearable, 
but  there  were  many  kinds  of  sickness,  with 
miserable  deaths,  owing  partly  to  the  old  and 
sharply  salted  food,  and  partly  to  the  foul, 
impure  water  furnished.  There  was  suffering 
from  hunger,  thirst,  heat,  cold,  dampness,  and 
anxiety. 

Another  very  common,  but  almost  tragic, 
hardship  which  many  passengers  experienced  was 
in  having  their  chests,  into  which  they  had  put 
practically  everything  that  they  had  to  bring 
with  them,  broken  into  and  plundered  of  a  part 
or  of  all  their  contents,  such  as  surplus  clothing, 
linens,  books,  keepsakes,  small  utensils,  and 
money.  Other  passengers  suffered  from  having 
their  chests  sent  on  different  ships  from  the  ones 
on  which  they  came,  which  at  best  caused  them 
much  inconvenience,  while  frequently  the  chests 
were  never  seen  again  by  their  owners,  or  only 


20 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


after  they  had  been  rifled  of  what  was  most 
valuable  in  them. 

Then  there  was  a  large  class  of  Germans  who 
must  have  suffered  their  full  share  in  the  father- 
land,  and  on  the  whole  more  than  any  other  class 
in  reaching  Pennsylvania,  but  who  had  years  of 
servitude  yet  to  undergo  before  they  could  call 
themselves  their  own  masters.  They  have  gener¬ 
ally  been  called  “redemptioners.”  In  one  way 
or  another,  perhaps  by  selling  their  few  belongings, 
they  managed  to  reach  a  seaport,  sometimes  with 
their  families,  but  had  no  money  to  go  farther. 
In  order  to  cross  the  ocean,  they  contracted  with 
the  shipmasters  for  credit  for  their  passage  until 
they  reached  Philadelphia,  with  the  provision  that 
if  the  amount  was  not  then  paid  by  them,  anyone 
who  wished  to  do  so  might  pay  it,  and  they  would 
work  for  him  long  enough  to  repay  him,  which 
usually  took  from  three  to  five  years.  This  was 
an  application  of  a  method  which  had  been  used 
largely  for  English  and  Irish  servants  who  con¬ 
tracted,  in  consideration  among  other  things  of 
receiving  specified  advances,  generally  including 
the  prepayment  of  their  passage,  to  go  to  America 


HARDSHIPS  LEFT  AND  ENCOUNTERED  21 


to  work  for  designated  periods  for  the  individuals 
who  personally  or  through  their  agents  were  the 
other  parties  to  those  contracts.  Both  those 
servants  and  the  redemptioners  were  by  their 
contracts  and  officially  termed  “  indentured  serv¬ 
ants.’’  Many,  too,  besides  Germans  came  as 
redemptioners. 

Unfortunately,  however,  it  was  not  long  before 
a  regular  traffic  in  German  redemptioners  was 
being  conducted,  often  with  deception  and  shame¬ 
ful  ill-treatment.  Agents  of  shipowners  and 
captains  went  through  the  country  and  by  gross 
misrepresentations  induced  people  to  go  as  redemp¬ 
tioners.  Sometimes  persons  were  even  enticed 
on  to  vessels  to  be  taken  as  redemptioners.  After 
that  their  treatment  on  shipboard  was  almost 
invariably  without  any  regard  for  their  comfort 
or  well-being.  Nor  was  any  consideration  given 
as  to  the  kind  of  persons  to  whom  they  were 
finally  disposed,  while  members  of  families  were 
often  separated.  It  has  been  said  also  that  there 
were  men,  called  “  soul-drivers,”  who,  as  it  were, 
bought  redemptioners  in  considerable  numbers 
from  captains  of  ships  and  took  them  through 


22 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


the  country,  reselling  them  to  the  farmers.  Again, 
redemptioners  were  sometimes  advertised  for  sale, 
as  if  they  were  chattels. 

But  it  was  not  all  like  that.  For  large  numbers 
of  persons,  this  system  of  giving  credit  for  the 
passage  with  a  chance  to  pay  for  it  afterward  in 
work  furnished  the  only  means  by  which  they 
could  ever  reach  America,  and  it  was  of  un¬ 
mistakable  advantage  to  them.  Many  of  them 
got  good  masters  and  good  homes,  with  a  chance 
to  get  acquainted  with  their  new  environment 
and  to  prepare  well  for  what  they  wanted  subse¬ 
quently  to  do. 

An  act  passed  in  1700  provided  that  every 
servant  who  should  faithfully  serve  four  years  or 
more  should  at  the  expiration  of  his  time  have  two 
complete  suits  of  clothes,  one  of  which  should 
be  new,  and  that  he  should  be  furnished  with  a 
new  ax,  a  grubbing  hoe,  and  a  weeding  hoe.  In 
some  cases  contracts  were  made  that  at  the  end 
of  his  service  a  man  should  receive  a  horse;  or, 
at  the  end  of  her  service,  a  woman  should  be  given 
a  cow,  or  a  spinning  wheel.  Children  who  came 
as  redemptioners  must  work  until  they  became 


HARDSHIPS  LEFT  AND  ENCOUNTERED  23 


of  age,  but  with  the  provision  sometimes  made  that 
they  should  be  taught  a  trade,  or  so  that  they  could 
read  the  German  Bible,  or  to  read  English,  or  to 
read  and  write,  and  perhaps  to  cipher. 

In  several  instances  a  redemptioner  was 
procured  to  render  services  as  a  schoolmaster,  or 
even  as  a  minister.  Furthermore,  as  a  class,  the 
German  redemptioners  are  to  be  credited  with 
becoming  good  citizens. 

How  the  early  German  settlers  as  a  class  met 
the  hardships  or  conditions  which  confronted  them 
after  they  reached  Pennsylvania — or  what  they 
then  did  and  how  they  then  lived — a  brief  review 
will  show  accorded  with  their  developed  character 
and  their  fortitude  under  prior  adverse  circum¬ 
stances. 


CHAPTER  III 


WITH  THE  PIONEERS 

The  life  of  a  pioneer  is  of  necessity  one  of 
privation.  Moreover,  the  hardships  attending  it 
are  generally  increased  by  the  fact  that  the  most 
of  those  who  enter  on  it  are  persons  of  limited 
means  who  are  for  that  reason  unable  to  provide 
as  many  things  for  themselves  as  they  might 
otherwise  have  for  their  comfort  and  to  aid 
them  in  their  work.  That  was  the  case  with  the 
great  majority  of  the  early  German  settlers  in 
Pennsylvania.  But  the  narrow  and  almost  com¬ 
fortless  life  of  toil  which  they  had  up  to  that  time 
led  prepared  them  in  a  manner  for  what  was  ahead 
of  them  when  they  set  out  with  scant  resources  to 
make  for  themselves  homes  in  the  forests  of  a  new 
country.  Such  peculiarities  as  their  disposition  to 
keep  by  themselves,  their  restricted  ambitions,  and 
their  habits  of  industry  and  thrift  also  tended  to 
fit  them  for  the  task  before  them,  and  to  make  of 
them  afterward  exceptionally  good  farmers;  so 


24 


Types  oe  Amish  Men,  Women,  and  Children  of  Lancaster 

County 


WITH  THE  PIONEERS 


25 


that  with  singleness  of  purpose  and  unsparing  of 
themselves  they  brought  their  land  under  cultiva¬ 
tion  and  thereafter  labored  to  make  it  produce  as 
much  as  possible. 

Various  makeshifts  for  temporary  shelter  while 
they  were  getting  their  allotments  of  land  and 
erecting  huts  thereon  had  to  be  resorted  to  by  those 
who  came  in  very  early  times.  During  the  warm 
months  some  camped  under  large  overhanging 
trees.  Others  made  huts  or  shelters  of  poles  and 
the  branches  and  leafage  of  trees.  For  several 
years  after  Philadelphia  was  laid  out,  what  have 
often  been  called  “caves/’  although  the  most  of 
them  were  more  like  huts,  were  dug  or  built 
either  in  the  side  or  at  the  top  of  the  moderately 
high  and  steep  bank  of  the  Delaware  River,  near 
the  wharf  where  the  ships  were  accustomed  to 
land  their  passengers.  Some  of  these  shelters 
may  have  been  little  more  than  large  holes  dug 
into  the  bank,  which  led  to  their  being  called 
“caves.”  But  the  most  common  form  of  con¬ 
struction  appears  to  have  been  to  make  an  excava¬ 
tion  about  3  feet  deep  and  of  the  desired  length 
and  width,  and  to  build  on  the  walls  of  that 


26 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


excavation  extensions  of  those  walls  upward  to 
the  necessary  height,  using  therefor  either  sods  or 
earth  and  the  branches  and  foliage  of  trees.  The 
roof  was  made  either  of  poles  or  of  the  branches 
of  trees,  on  which  were  placed  first  bark  or  brush 
and  then  a  layer  of  sod  or  earth.  Chimneys 
were  built  of  stones  and  a  mixture  of  clay  and  grass, 
or  of  such  mixture  only.  Some  of  these  shelters 
served  several  tenants  in  succession,  but  some  of 
them  came  to  be  put  to  uses  which  finally  led  to 
the  issuance  of  an  order  that  all  must  be  vacated 
so  that  they  might  be  demolished. 

Pastorius  described  a  house  that  he  built  as 
being  one-half  under  the  earth,  and  one-half 
above  it,  with  a  window  made  of  oiled  paper. 
He  said  that  the  house  was  30  feet  long,  and  15 
broad;  but,  when  the  people  from  Crefeld  were 
lodging  with  him,  it  was  capable  of  accommodating 
twenty  persons.  He  said  further  that,  besides 
building  this  house,  he  had — on  the  Delaware — 
dug  a  cellar  20  feet  long,  12  wide,  and  7  deep. 
Probably  it  was  the  house  that  was  referred  to 
when  it  was  said  that  on  October  25,  1683,  there 
was  a  meeting  in  his  “cave”  for  the  purpose  of 


WITH  THE  PIONEERS 


27 


drawing  lots  for  choices  of  location  in  Germantown, 
although  what  he  called  a  cellar  was  more  like 
a  cave  than  was  his  house. 

After  the  division  and  assignment  of  land  in 
Germantown  those  who  desired  to  winter  there  had 
no  time  to  lose  in  preparing  for  it.  Something  like 
the  caves  or  sod  houses  along  the  Delaware  were 
built  from  the  materials  at  hand.  That  nothing 
better  could  be  done  was  shown  by  the  kind  of 
house  that  Pastorius  had  to  be  content  with  in 
Philadelphia.  But  when  he  wrote  his  letter,  in 
March,  1684,  he  exulted  over  the  fact  that  forty- 
two  people,  distributed  in  twelve  homes,  were  at 
that  date  living  in  Germantown. 

Then  came  log  cabins.  Many  of  these  were 
small  and  hastily  built  to  be  used  for  a  year  or 
two  only,  or  until  larger  and  better  log  houses 
could  be  built  that  would  be  very  comfortable  and 
perhaps  serve  for  a  generation  or  more.  The 
timber  from  which  to  build  them  was  to  be  found 
on  every  farm  and  cost  nothing  beyond  the  labor 
of  cutting  down  the  trees  and  preparing  from  them 
the  necessary  logs  and  boards,  whereas  the  trees 
had  to  be  chopped  down  to  clear  the  land. 


28 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


For  the  walls  of  the  better  houses  the  logs  were 
hewed  on  at  least  three  sides  so  that  when  laid 
one  above  another  they  would  come  close  together 
and  on  the  inside  of  the  houses  the  walls,  which 
were  not  plastered,  would  be  fairly  smooth. 
At  the  corners  of  the  houses  the  ends  of  the  logs 
were  hewed  and  notched  so  that  they  fitted  and 
held  like  dovetailing.  The  erection  of  the  walls, 
after  the  logs  had  been  prepared  and  brought 
where  they  were  to  be  used,  was  generally  done 
with  the  assistance  of  neighbors,  in  bees,  or,  as 
they  were  commonly  called,  “ frolics.5’  The  inter¬ 
stices  between  the  logs  were  stopped  with  clay. 
Roofs  were  constructed  of  poles  and  above  them 
a  thatch  of  grass,  reeds,  or,  when  it  was  to  be  had, 
straw.  A  little  later,  overlapped  boards,  and  then 
rude  shingles,  were  used,  instead  of  thatching. 
At  first  the  bare  ground  was  sometimes  utilized 
for  floors,  but  floors  were  more  often  made  of 
split  or  hewed  logs,  and  afterward  of  boards. 
Chimneys  were  built  of  stones,  the  cracks  between 
them  being  closed  with  clay,  or  with  clay  and  grass 
mixed.  The  location  of  the  chimney  was  usually 
against  one  end  of  a  house,  on  the  outside.  Small 


WITH  THE  PIONEERS 


29 


windows  were  made  by  cutting  holes  of  the  desired 
size  through  the  walls,  and,  when  necessary, 
covering  these  openings  with  oiled  paper  or  oiled 
skins  until  window  glass  was  obtained.  Window- 
panes  were  small  and  were  usually  set  in  leaden 
frames.  Doors  consisted  of  two  parts,  an  upper 
and  a  lower  one,  each  with  its  own  hinges  and 
fastenings,  which  made  it  convenient  to  use  the 
upper  halves  of  the  doors  as  large,  open  windows. 

The  log  house  built  by  Heinrich  Rosenberger, 
which  was  used  for  almost  eighty  years,  first 
by  him  and  then  by  his  son  Heinrich,  was  a  typical 
log  house  of  the  better  kind  in  early  days,  in  that 
it  was  a  story-and-a-half  in  height,  or  had  side 
walls  a  little  more  than  one  story  high,  and  rising 
from  them  a  steep  roof,  so  that  the  attic,  having 
windows  in  the  gables,  made  a  usable  room. 
In  some  houses  of  that  kind  the  first  story  was 
divided  into  two  rooms;  in  other  cases  it  was 
left  all  in  one  room.  The  attic  was  often  reached 
by  a  ladder  that  was  easily  made  and  that  occupied 
little  space.  In  other  houses  there  were  stairs, 
which  were  in  some  instances  made  by  hewing 
out  steps  across  a  log  of  large  diameter  that 


30 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


would  be  erected  with  the  proper  slant  between 
the  floors. 

When  more  room  was  wanted  than  a  house  of 
the  foregoing  description  furnished,  it  was  ordi¬ 
narily  obtained  by  building  against  one  side  of  the 
house  a  log  addition  with  a  roof  connecting  with 
the  roof  on  that  side  of  the  house,  but  with  the 
roof  of  the  addition  having  much  less  slope  than 
that  of  the  house.  The  addition  was  generally 
used  as  a  kitchen,  or  as  a  kitchen  and  dining-room 
combined. 

Almost  every  house  had  under  it  a  cellar, 
which  was  little  or  nothing  more  than  an  excava¬ 
tion  of  the  size  desired. 

An  open  fireplace  served  for  purposes  of 
cooking,  heating  in  cold  weather,  and  to  a  great 
extent  for  lighting  in  the  evening.  It  was  built 
in  a  hole  cut  for  it  through  the  wall  opposite  the 
lower  part  of  the  chimney.  Its  bottom,  sides, 
and  top  were  constructed  of  flat  stones,  while  its 
back  was  a  part  of  the  chimney.  All  cracks  in 
it  were  filled  with  clay. 

As  the  people  had  no  matches,  they  seldom 
intentionally  permitted  their  fires  to  go  out,  but 


WITH  THE  PIONEERS 


3i 


covered  them  at  night  with  ashes  so  that  embers 
might  be  found  in  the  morning  with  which  to 
start  them  again.  When  fires  accidentally  went 
out,  new  ones  had  to  be  started  by  striking  a 
piece  of  flint  with  a  piece  of  steel  in  such  a  way 
as  to  make  a  spark  that  would  ignite  a  bit  of 
tinder;  or  gunpowder  might  be  placed  in  the  pan 
of  the  lock  of  a  flint-lock  musket  and  flashed 
against  some  tow.  It  was  also  a  common  practice, 
when  there  were  neighbors  near  enough,  to  go 
with  a  small  iron  pot  to  the  house  of  a  neighbor 
to  get  a  few  live  coals  with  which  to  start  a  fire. 
When  other  light  than  that  furnished  by  the  fire¬ 
place  was  wanted  it  was  obtained  from  candles 
made  by  repeatedly  dipping  wicks  in  melted 
tallow,  which  led  to  the  candles  often  being  called 
“dips,”  or  “tallow  dips.” 

The  furnishings  of  a  log  house  were  at  first 
few  and  simple.  The  furniture  ordinarily  con¬ 
sisted  of  a  table,  benches  and  stools  for  seats, 
possibly  a  corner  cupboard,  and  a  bedstead — all 
of  them  homemade.  But  if  the  house  was  one 
with  an  attic,  the  place  for  sleeping  might  be 
upstairs,  in  beds  laid  on  the  floor,  each  bed 


32 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


consisting  of  nothing  more  than  two  ticks  filled 
with  such  material  as  was  to  be  had,  ranging  from 
hay  to  feathers,  according  to  circumstances,  one 
tick  being  used  to  sleep  on,  and  the  other  one, 
which  was  usually  lighter,  for  covering.  Wooden 
pegs,  on  which  to  hang  clothing,  were  driven  into 
the  walls;  and  shelves,  to  hold  the  few  books, 
dishes,  and  various  other  articles,  were  at  con¬ 
venient  places  attached  to  the  walls.  Linens  and 
things  of  that  character  were  kept  in  the  family 
chest,  which  was  soon  supplemented  with  some¬ 
thing  like  a  plain  dresser.  The  cooking  utensils 
were  few  and  primitive,  such  as  could  be  used 
with  an  open  fireplace,  the  main  ones  being  two 
or  three  iron  pots.  Likewise,  the  tableware  was 
limited  to  a  few  pewter  dishes  and  wooden  platters, 
and  to  some  knives,  forks,  and  spoons. 

Those  who  had  the  means  with  which  to  do  it, 
could  purchase,  in  Philadelphia  or  in  some  of 
the  older  settlements  of  the  province,  horses, 
oxen,  cows,  hogs,  sheep,  and  poultry,  derived  from 
some  which  the  Swedes  or  the  English  had  brought 
in  from  New  England  or  possibly  from  nearer 
colonies.  But  most  of  the  German  pioneers  had 


WITH  THE  PIONEERS 


33 


to  be  content  to  stock  their  farms  gradually. 
Their  first  teams  were  generally  of  oxen ;  and  not 
all  got  those  immediately. 

But  as  soon  as  a  man  had  a  house  in  which  he 
and  his  family  could  live,  he  must,  whether  he 
had  a  team  or  not,  enter  upon  the  arduous  task 
of  clearing  his  land  for  cultivation,  especially 
enough  of  it  to  begin  raising  as  soon  as  possible 
the  grain,  vegetables,  and  flax  needed  for  food 
and  clothing.  All  the  tools  that  a  man  had  to 
have  to  do  this  work  were  an  ax  and  a  grubbing 
hoe.  He  began  by  grubbing  up  the  underbrush 
and  the  saplings,  which  were  gathered  into  piles 
and  when  dry  enough  were  burned.  He  then 
chopped  down  the  trees  and  converted  as  much 
of  their  trunks  as  he  desired  into  fence  rails  and 
firewood.  All  of  the  refuse  and  the  tops  of  the 
trees  that  were  simply  cut  down  and  no  part 
of  them  used  were  subsequently  burned.  After 
the  logs  remaining  on  the  ground  were  generally 
brought  together,  piled,  and  burned  by  a  “  logging 
bee”  composed  of  neighbors  who  termed  it  a 
“frolic.”  That  is  the  way  in  which  a  German 
usually  prepared  his  land  for  the  plow. 


34 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


Another  method,  which  was  generally  followed 
by  other  settlers,  was  not  to  chop  down  any  large 
trees,  but  to  girdle  them  by  cutting  out  around 
each  one  a  band  a  few  inches  wide  and  as  deep 
as  the  bark,  or  a  little  deeper,  which  would  kill 
the  trees.  In  a  year  or  two  the  dead  limbs 
would  begin  to  fall,  and  eventually  the  trees, 
one  by  one.  That  saved  some  labor  at  first,  but 
the  branches  that  fell  had  to  be  collected  from 
time  to  time,  and  burned;  and  so  did  the  trees 
themselves,  after  a  number  of  years.  Besides,  it 
left  such  unsightly  fields  that  travelers  remarked 
on  the  much  better  appearance  of  those  cleared 
by  the  Germans.  The  looks  of  the  fields  where 
the  trees  were  girdled  and  left  standing  were  made 
worse,  too,  many  times,  by  setting  the  trees  afire, 
after  they  had  become  dry,  and  burning  off  their 
tops  and  the  outside  of  their  trunks. 

Breaking  the  land  by  the  first  plowing,  after 
it  was  cleared,  was  a  very  difficult  matter  because 
the  trees  extended  far  in  all  directions  and  the 
roots  of  the  smaller  vegetation  intertwined, 
forming  a  close,  tough  network  hard  to  be  torn 
apart  by  the  wooden  plows  with  which  it  had  to 


WITH  THE  PIONEERS 


35 


be  done.  If  a  man  did  not  himself  own  a  team 
with  which  to  do  this  work,  he  had  to  hire  one  of 
some  neighbor,  and  oxen  were  better  for  the  work 
than  were  horses.  Harrows  with  wooden  teeth 
were  used  for  pulverizing  and  smoothing  plowed 
ground. 

Fields  had  to  be  fenced  for  the  protection  of 
crops  because  cattle  and  hogs  were  universally 
allowed  to  run  at  large.  The  fences  built  were 
what  have  come  to  be  known  either  as  “worm” 
fences  or  as  a snake’ 5  fences  on  account  of  their 
zigzag  form.  They  were  made  of  rails  about  n 
feet,  or  sometimes  less,  in  length,  and  triangular 
in  their  cross-sections,  each  of  which  measured 
approximately  from  3  to  4  inches  on  the  base  of 
the  triangle,  and  from  4  to  6  inches  on  its  sides. 
These  rails  were  laid  so  that  those  of  one  panel 
of  a  fence  crossed  those  of  the  next  panel  a  few 
inches  from  that  end  of  each,  one  rail  of  the  one 
panel  being  laid  and  then  one  of  the  other  until 
the  desired  height  of  fence  was  attained,  the  two 
panels  forming  a  very  wide  angle;  while  another 
wide  angle,  the  reverse  of  that  one,  was  formed 
by  the  second  and  third  panels — and  so  on;  the 


36 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


panels  zigzagging  back  and  forth,  in  order  to 
keep  the  fence  from  falling  over.  The  rails 
were  split  from  logs  by  means  of  an  ax  and  a 
homemade  maul  and  wedges. 

When  it  came  to  sowing  grain,  that  was  done 
by  hand.  The  cutting  of  grain,  when  it  was 
ready  for  harvesting,  was  done  with  a  sickle. 
Hay  was  mowed  with  a  scythe.  A  whetstone  to 
sharpen  sickle  or  scythe  was  frequently  carried 
in  a  holder  made  of  an  ox-horn.  Rakes  and  pitch- 
forks  were  made  entirely  of  wood.  Threshing 
was  done  with  a  flail,  or  by  having  the  grain  trod 
by  a  horse  or  an  ox. 

An  orchard,  particularly  of  apple  and  of  peach 
trees,  was  early  planted  on  almost  every  farm. 
The  apples  raised  were  used  for  making  apple 
butter,  cider,  and  cider  vinegar.  Besides,  both 
apples  and  peaches  were  cut  into  pieces — the 
apples  after  being  pared — and  dried  in  the  sun, 
to  be  afterward  used  in  various  ways  in  cooking. 
The  dried  apples,  as  well  as  the  pieces  of  apples 
before  they  were  dried,  were  called  “schnitz.” 

After  the  Germans  once  got  live  stock,  they 
took  good  care  of  it.  This  meant  the  early 


w  inter  Scene  on  Conestoga  Creek,  South  of  Lancaster 


“Snake”  or  “Worm”  Fences 


WITH  THE  PIONEERS 


37 


building  of  stables,  which  were  at  first  small  and 
perhaps  of  a  temporary  character,  but  which  in 
general  had  log  walls  and  were  covered  with  hay, 
straw,  or  cornstalks.  Observant  travelers  were 
much  impressed  with  the  care  that  the  Germans 
took  of  their  horses  and  their  cattle,  while  most 
other  pioneers  were  wont  to  let  theirs  run  in  the 
woods  or  go  without  proper  shelter  and  care  in 
winter,  in  consequence  of  which,  if  their  animals 
lived  through  the  cold  weather,  they  were  in 
poor  condition  in  the  spring. 

For  many  years  there  were  no  roads  that 
reached  to  the  German  settlements.  Such  travel¬ 
ing  as  it  was  necessary  to  do  was  done  either  on 
foot  or  on  horseback,  along  winding  trails  or 
footpaths  through  the  woods.  On  horseback  also 
grain  was  taken  in  bags  to  mill,  and  produce, 
with  sometimes  a  live  sheep  or  a  live  calf,  was 
taken  in  panniers  to  the  Philadelphia  market. 
Merchandise  of  any  kind  was  brought  home  in  the 
same  manner.  Much  of  the  marketing,  moreover, 
was  done  by  the  women,  when  the  distance  was 
not  too  great.  For  service  on  the  farms,  sleds 
were  sometimes  made;  and  then  two-wheeled 


38 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


carts.  The  wheels  of  the  carts  were  solid,  thick, 
and  often  of  very  large  diameter.  They  were 
made  either  of  cross-sections  of  large  logs,  or  of 
pieces*  of  wood  fastened  together.  The  carts 
were  generally  drawn  by  yokes  of  oxen;  and,  as 
the  carts  could  stand  going  anywhere  that  there 
was  a  possibility  of  getting  through,  they  came 
to  be  considerably  used  for  transportation  off 
the  farm,  as  well  as  used  on  it,  and  helped  to 
broaden  the  footpaths  through  the  country  into 
roadways. 

In  general,  the  German  farmers  hired  few 
helpers.  They  preferred  to  do  the  most  of  their 
work  themselves,  with  the  assistance  of  the 
members  of  their  immediate  families,  which  at 
certain  seasons  of  the  year  included  the  aid  in 
the  fields  of  their  wives  and  their  daughters.  Yet 
they  did  some  exchanging  of  work  with  their 
neighbors;  and,  when  they  did  hire  either  men 
or  women  for  service,  they  usually  treated  those 
hired  the  same  as  if  they  were  regular  inmates 
of  their  homes. 

The  most  of  the  clothing  was  homemade,  of 
homemade  cloth.  Sometimes  boots  and  shoes 


WITH  THE  PIONEERS 


39 


were  also  homemade,  but  more  often  they  were 
made  by  shoemakers  who  periodically  went  around 
to  the  houses  to  do  the  work,  or  to  get  the  measure¬ 
ments  for  it.  Both  boots  and  shoes  were  coarse 
and  heavy.  However,  men  and  women  commonly 
went  barefoot  through  the  summer;  and  the 
children,  a  longer  time.  The  men  wore  long 
trousers,  vests,  and  coats  or  jackets,  which  were 
generally  made  of  coarse  cloth  manufactured 
from  tow  and  possibly  dyed  a  brown  with  a 
preparation  made  from  the  bark  of  butternut 
trees.  But  trousers  and  jackets  were  frequently 
made  of  leather,  or  of  buckskin.  The  women 
wore  short  gowns  and  petticoats.  Kerchiefs, 
small  shawls,  or  hoods  were  the  usual  coverings 
for  their  heads.  Boys  were  dressed  very  much 
like  their  fathers;  girls,  like  their  mothers. 

The  housewife  generally  made  the  garden  and 
saw  to  the  raising  of  a  patch  of  flax.  She  also 
looked  after  the  curing  and  the  dressing  of  the 
flax;  and,  with  the  aid  of  her  daughters,  during 
the  winter  did  the  spinning,  and  perhaps  the 
weaving,  although  the  materials  when  ready  for 
it  were  sometimes  sent  to  professional  weavers 


40 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


to  be  woven.  The  finer  grades  of  linen  were 
bleached  on  the  grass,  in  the  sun.  From  the  tow 
or  coarser  part  of  the  flax  not  only  was  cloth 
made,  but  also  rope  for  various  purposes,  one  of 
which  was  for  use  as  part  of  the  harness,  or 
“gear,”  for  horses.  After  the  raising  of  sheep  was 
begun,  the  women  had  the  wool  to  prepare  for 
spinning,  and  then  to  spin.  Considerable  a  linsey- 
woolsey,’ J  or  coarse  cloth  of  linen  and  wool,  was 
made,  and  much  used  for  clothing.  Other  duties 
frequently  apportioned  to  the  women,  besides 
those  of  housekeeping,  were  the  milking  of  the 
cows  and  the  caring  for  the  poultry,  in  addition 
to  which  they  had  the  milk  to  take  care  of  and 
butter  and  cheese  to  make. 

On  a  bare  table,  frugal,  but  ample,  meals 
were  spread.  Soup,  bread  of  one  kind  or  another, 
meat,  and  some  vegetables  were  the  main  articles 
of  diet  at  first  for  the  pioneers.  The  meat  might 
at  times  be  some  sort  of  wild  game.  In  their 
seasons,  there  were  also  wild  berries,  some  of  which 
were  made  into  preserves  and  jelly.  Milk  was 
used  a  great  deal,  but  butter  was  to  a  large  extent 
taken  the  place  of  by  “smearcase”  or  cottage 


WITH  THE  PIONEERS 


4i 


cheese,  by  preserves  and  jelly,  and  by  apple  butter, 
when  there  were  apples  from  which  to  make  it. 
Little  tea  or  coffee  was  used.  What  was  called 
tea  was  generally  made  of  herbs;  and  the  coffee, 
of  burnt  rye,  or  of  burnt  wheat.  For  seats 
around  the  table  either  benches  or  stools  were 
utilized.  But,  among  even  a  very  conservative 
people,  in  the  course  of  time  various  changes  were 
inevitable,  some  of  which  should  be  noted. 


CHAPTER  IV 


GENERAL  LIFE  AND  CHANGES 

The  life  of  the  Pennsylvania  Germans,  in 
general,  subsequent  to  the  days  of  the  German 
pioneers  was  but  a  continuation  with  a  gradual 
development  or  improvement  in  some  respects  of 
the  life  of  the  pioneers.  Most  of  the  pioneers 
were,  after  a  few  years,  living  better  and  getting 
more  out  of  life  than  ever  before,  but  with  few 
noticeable  changes  in  their  manner  of  life.  Nor 
were  such  changes  made  with  any  frequency  by 
their  descendants. 

With  regard  to  improving  their  houses  there 
was  considerable  done  by  the  second,  or,  if  not  by 
that,  then  by  the  third,  generation.  The  greater 
number  of  the  pioneers  were  inclined  as  long  as 
they  lived  to  retain  their  homes  in  their  log  houses, 
when  they  had  good  ones.  But  those  who  after 
them  became  the  owners  of  the  farms  began 
building  large  stone  houses,  and  particularly  in 
the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  were 


42 


GENERAL  LIFE  AND  CHANGES 


43 


houses  of  that  kind  built,  a  fairly  large  proportion 
of  which  are  still  in  use,  while  the  log  houses 
have  practically  all  disappeared.  Many  of  the 
stone  houses,  however,  on  account  of  the  roughness 
and  unsightliness  of  the  shale  stones  generally 
used  in  their  construction,  and  the  frequent  de¬ 
velopment  of  interstices  in  the  walls  have  been 
plastered  over  on  the  outside  with  ordinary  plas¬ 
ter,  cement,  or  a  mixture  of  plaster  and  cement, 
and  then  perhaps  painted  white. 

A  good  example  of  one  of  those  old  stone 
farmhouses  was  the  one  which  took  the  place  of 
Heinrich  Rosenberger ’s  log  house.  By  whom 
that  stone  house  was  built,  and  when,  was  not 
left  in  doubt,  because,  following  a  custom  among 
many  of  the  Pennsylvania  Germans,  a  date-stone 
or  tablet — one  that  in  this  case  read:  “ Johannes 
M.  Schwerdle,  1809” — was  placed  near  the  apex 
of  one  of  the  gables  of  the  house.  This  Schwerdle, 
while  yet  in  his  minority,  came  as  a  redemptioner, 
in  September,  1772.  Upon  his  arrival,  his  passage 
was  paid  by  Heinrich  Rosenberger  (son  of  the 
pioneer),  after  which  Schwerdle  repaid  the  said 
Rosenberger  with  three  years  of  service.  Subse- 


44 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


quently  Schwerdle  married  one  of  the  daughters 
of  that  Heinrich  Rosenberger,  junior,  and  later 
acquired,  through  the  will  of  his  father-in-law 
and  by  purchase,  the  Rosenberger  farm,  on  which 
he  built  that  stone  house.  Moreover,  a  descendant 
of  his — who  spells  his  name  “Swartley” — “Henry 
Rosenberger  Swartley,”  is  the  present  owner  and 
occupant  of  the  house  and  of  a  considerable  part 
of  the  farm. 

The  development  in  the  building  of  houses, 
which  was  from  small  log  ones  to  large  stone  or 
sometimes  frame  ones,  was  fully  equaled  by  the 
advance  from  the  building  of  small  stables  to 
large  barns,  or  rather  to  combined  stables  and 
barns,  the  lower  part  being  for  the  stabling  of 
horses  and  cattle,  and  the  upper  part  for  the 
storage  of  grain  and  hay.  Some  of  these  barns 
were  built  with  stone  walls;  others  were  frame 
structures  entirely.  But  the  most  common  form 
was  to  have  stone  walls  for  the  stable  or  lower 
part,  and  all  above  that  built  of  lumber,  the  upper 
or  frame  part  extending  from  5  to  8  feet  beyond  the 
stone  wall  on  one  side  of  the  building  so  as  to 
form  a  partial  outside  shelter  for  live  stock,  or 


Stone  House  Built  in  1809  on  What  Had  Been  the  Heinrich 

Rosenberger  Farm 


The  Rittenhouse  Home  near  Germantown 

Built  of  stone  in  1707,  and  later  covered  with  plaster 


GENERAL  LIFE  AND  CHANGES 


45 


sometimes  for  vehicles.  The  frame  portion  of 
many  of  the  barns  was  painted  white,  on  the  out¬ 
side;  but,  of  others,  red;  or,  sometimes,  yellow. 

Of  some  significance  also  was  the  change  which 
was  made  in  the  building  of  fences.  This  came 
when  people  had  their  land  for  the  most  part 
cleared  and  under  cultivation.  It  showed  both 
a  growing  scarcity  of  timber  from  which  to  make 
rails  and  an  increasing  realization  that  the  old 
worm  fences,  of  which  only  a  very  few  specimens 
or  remnants  are  now  to  be  seen,  occupied  an 
unnecessary  breadth  of  ground  and  furnished  too 
many  corners  in  which  weeds  could  grow,  as  well 
as  soon  became  displeasing  to  the  eye. 

The  new  form  of  fence  which  was  adopted, 
and  which  may  yet  be  seen  almost  everywhere, 
except  where  it  has  been  superseded  by  wire 
fencing,  was  constructed  of  posts  and  rails.  The 
posts  were  about  7  or  8  inches  wide  and  2  or  3 
inches  thick.  Lengthwise  through  their  broader 
surfaces  they  had  mortises  cut  that  were  from  2 
to  3  inches  wide  and  from  5  to  7  inches  long — at 
such  places  as  it  was  desired  to  have  the  rails. 
Then  the  posts  were  firmly  set  in  the  ground  at 


46 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


intervals  of  about  a  foot  less  than  the  length  of 
the  rails;  and  the  rails,  hewed  at  their  ends  so 
that  the  ends  of  two  rails  could  be  inserted  into  a 
mortise,  were  inserted,  one  rail  from  each  side, 
into  every  mortise.  That  made  a  straight  and 
more  durable  fence,  of  good  appearance. 

The  roads  over  which  the  Pennsylvania- 
German  farmer  had  to  travel  when  he  went 
anywhere  remained,  with  a  few  exceptions,  very 
poor  during  the  most  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
Especially  were  they  rough,  and  at  some  seasons 
of  the  year  exceedingly  miry  in  places.  Sometimes 
a  boggy  spot  was  improved  by  constructing  over 
it  a  corduroy  roadbed,  which  was  done  by  laying 
first  one  log  across  the  road  and  then  another 
beside  it,  continuing  the  operation  for  whatever 
distance  was  deemed  necessary.  A  great  ad¬ 
vance  in  road-making  had  its  inception  in  the 
incorporation  in  1792  of  a  company  that  con¬ 
structed  a  turnpike  or  macadamized  toll-road  that 
was  completed  in  1794  between  Philadelphia  and 
Lancaster.  After  that  a  large  number  of  hard¬ 
surfaced  toll-roads  of  varying  lengths  were  built, 
and  a  few  short  ones  still  exist. 


GENERAL  LIFE  AND  CHANGES 


47 


A  considerable  backwardness  was  also  long 
shown  in  the  matter  of  building  bridges.  A  log 
was  occasionally  placed  across  a  small  stream,  to 
be  used  as  a  bridge  by  pedestrians,  but  for  many 
years  any  other  crossing  of  small  streams  had  to 
be  done  by  fording  them.  Over  large  streams 
ferries  were  in  the  course  of  time  established  here 
and  there.  The  building  of  substantial  bridges 
was  not  begun  until  near  the  close  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  As  late  as  1795  it  was  said  that  three 
bridges  across  the  Schuylkill  River  in  the  vicinity 
of  Philadelphia  were  floating  ones  that  were 
built  of  logs  chained  together  and  kept  in  place 
by  anchors  and  by  fastenings  to  the  two  shores. 

When  the  farmers  got  wagons,  these  were 
usually  covered  ones — that  is,  they  had  canvas 
covers  stretched  over  arches  made  of  hoop-poles 
or  bent  strips  of  wood  which  were  attached  at 
their  ends  to  the  sides  of  the  wagon  boxes.  Some 
of  them  were  what  were  called  Conestoga  wagons, 
which  name  was  perhaps  in  some  way  derived 
from  such  wagons,  of  heavy  build,  being  used  for 
transportation  purposes  between  Philadelphia 
and  Lancaster,  or  between  Philadelphia  and 


48 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


Pittsburgh,  through  Lancaster;  or  from  such 
wagons  having  been  made  either  first  or  princi¬ 
pally  at  Lancaster,  adjacent  to  the  Conestoga 
Creek.  The  Conestoga  wagons  were  usually  drawn 
by  from  four  to  eight  horses.  The  bottom  of  the 
wagon  box  was  made  concave,  or  with  the  center 
a  few  inches  lower  than  the  ends,  so  that  in  going 
up  and  down  the  numerous  hills  the  load  would 
tend  to  accumulate  in  the  center  instead  of  sliding 
from  one  end  of  the  wagon  to  the  other.  Like 
these  wagons  in  the  main  were  the  “  prairie 
schooners”  of  a  later  day;  and  somewhat  of  a 
reminder  of  them  in  appearance,  especially  in 
the  expanding  shape  of  their  boxes,  are  the 
lighter,  two-horse  wagons,  without  any  covers, 
now  largely  used  on  the  farms.  Another  form 
of  wagon  that  came  to  be  used  a  great  deal  by  the 
Pennsylvania  Germans  was  a  light  one  with 
either  a  canvas  or  an  oilcloth  cover  or  top.  It  was 
called  a  market  wagon,  and  it  is  still  in  use,  but 
it  is  gradually  being  displaced  by  automobiles. 

Markets  where  farm  produce  might  regularly 
be  sold,  and  more  general  annual  or  semiannual 
markets  or  fairs,  were  established  very  early  in 


GENERAL  LIFE  AND  CHANGES 


49 


Philadelphia  and  in  Germantown;  and  in  other 
important  centers,  when  these  were  formed. 
Markets  of  the  first  kind  in  particular  were  favored 
by  the  Pennsylvania  Germans,  and  on  their 
account  largely  are  still  maintained  in  many 
places.  In  Lancaster,  for  example,  there  are 
markets  at  certain  hours  on  four  days  of  the  week, 
in  three  different  buildings  and  along  the  curb, 
on  one  side  of  two  streets,  for  about  four  blocks. 
The  city  owns  the  central  market-house,  and  from 
the  sale  or  lease  of  the  right  to  use  the  stalls  in  it 
and  of  the  right  to  use  the  curb  for  stands  for 
market  purposes  during  the  market  hours  for 
the  year  of  1923  derived  a  revenue  of  about  thirty- 
eight  thousand  dollars.  The  majority  of  those 
who  conduct  the  markets  are  farmers,  but  in  the 
market-house  especially  there  are  stalls  maintained 
by  butchers,  bakers,  and  other  tradesmen. 
Almost  anything  ordinarily  wanted  in  meats, 
vegetables,  fruits,  various  kinds  of  cheese,  and 
pastry  may  be  bought  there.  Along  the  curb 
some  of  the  most  noticeable  articles  offered  for 
sale  are  vegetables,  sauerkraut,  boiled  beets, 
potato  chips,  apples,  Florida  oranges  and  grape- 


5o 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


fruit,  beef,  fish,  sausage,  “ pudding”  made  of 
boiled  and  seasoned  scraps  of  pork  together  with 
liver  and  sometimes  with  beef,  “  scrapple  ”  or 
cornmeal  mush  made  with  the  juice  left  after 
making  pudding,  dressed  chickens,  eggs,  occasion¬ 
ally  live  fowls,  cottage  and  “Dutch”  cheese, 
apple  butter  and  preserves,  honey,  pies,  doughnuts, 
and  cakes.  Flowers  are  also  sold,  sometimes 
artificial  ones.  Pretzels  are  so  much  in  demand 
that  they  are  continuously  exposed  to  the  dust 
and  for  sale,  at  a  penny  apiece,  at  a  number  of 
stands  on  the  main  business  streets. 

Going  to  market,  either  to  Philadelphia  or 
elsewhere,  meant  more  to  the  farmers  in  early 
days  than  merely  disposing  of  their  produce. 
It  gave  them  new  incentives  to  improve  things, 
and  an  opportunity  to  purchase  much  that  was 
needed  for  doing  it.  Thus,  furniture  made  by 
cabinet-makers  or  in  factories  came  to  be  substi¬ 
tuted,  one  article  after  another,  for  that  which  was 
roughly  homemade,  especially  was  this  true  of 
bedsteads,  dressers,  and  tables,  as  well  as  of 
chairs  to  take  the  place  of  benches  and  stools. 
Earthenware,  china,  and  glassware  were  also 


Curb-Market  Scenes  in  Lancaster 


GENERAL  LIFE  AND  CHANGES 


5i 


purchased  at  different  times;  likewise,  articles  of 
clothing,  and  cloth,  until  finally  no  more  homespun 
was  made. 

The  Pennsylvania  Germans  began  to  use  stoves 
as  soon  as  they  could  get  them,  and  their  houses 
were  distinguishable  in  many  instances  by  having 
their  chimneys  built  through  the  center  of  the 
roof,  and  not  at  one  end  of  the  house  as  was 
customary  for  a  fireplace.  Later,  chimneys  were 
commonly  built,  on  the  inside  of  the  walls,  at 
the  two  ends  of  a  house.  In  1684  Pastorius 
asked  that  an  iron  stove  be  sent  to  him  from 
Germany,  but  it  was  many  years  after  that  before 
stoves  can  be  said  to  have  come  into  use. 

The  first  stoves  were  each  made  of  five  iron 
plates — one  plate  for  the  bottom,  one  for  the  top, 
one  for  each  side,  and  one  for  the  front,  while 
the  back  of  the  stove  was  made  by  the  chimney, 
or  by  an  old  fireplace,  into  which  a  few  inches  of 
the  stove  were  tightly  fitted.  There  was  no  open¬ 
ing  in  any  of  the  plates.  Wood,  for  fuel,  was  put 
in  from  the  back,  through  a  sort  of  door  in  the 
chimney  or  fireplace.  Next,  came  the  six-plate 
stove,  the  sixth  plate  being  used  for  the  back  of 


52 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


the  stove,  thus  permitting  the  stove  to  stand  away 
from  the  chimney.  This  stove  had  a  door  in 
the  front  plate  for  the  insertion  of  fuel.  After 
that,  the  ten-plate  stove  was  invented,  the 
additional  four  plates  being  used  in  the  construc¬ 
tion  of  an  oven  in  the  stove.  Stoves  of  five  or 
six  plates  were  usually  nearly  square,  or  possibly 
measured  about  21  inches  in  height,  18  inches  in 
width,  and  24  inches  in  length,  while  ten-plate 
stoves  were  somewhat  longer.  The  plates  were 
generally  made  of  cast  iron  and  had  raised  orna¬ 
mental  or  allegorical  designs  on  what  were  to  be 
their  outer  sides.  About  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century  cannon  or  upright  cylindrical 
heating-stoves  made  their  appearance,  and  were 
first  used  principally  in  large  rooms  frequented 
by  the  public,  and  in  churches.  All  burned  wood. 

Baking  was  for  a  long  while  done  in  ovens, 
which  were  often  of  considerable  size,  and  were 
generally  constructed  of  stones  and  mortar  at  a 
little  distance  from  the  farmhouses,  and  at  times 
in  connection  with  smokehouses,  which  were 
used  in  smoking  and  curing  meat.  A  great  many 
stories  have  been  told  about  what,  and  how  much, 


GENERAL  LIFE  AND  CHANGES 


53 


was  baked  in  these  ovens,  but  their  use  was  dis¬ 
continued  after  the  introduction,  in  the  nineteenth 
century,  of  cook-stoves  and  kitchen  ranges,  and 
eventually  practically  all  the  ovens  were  torn 
down.  Now  the  baking  of  bread  at  home  has 
been  almost  abandoned,  baker’s  bread  being 
instead  bought  from  wagons  or  automobiles  sent 
through  the  country  every  week  day  to  supply  it. 

Where  there  were  springs  or  brooks,  spring- 
houses  were  built  in  which  to  keep  the  milk, 
cream,  butter,  and  sometimes  other  articles  of 
food.  These  houses — ordinarily  with  about  the 
capacity  of  a  small  room,  although  sometimes 
smaller  or  larger  than  that — were  usually  built 
with  stone  walls,  which,  in  the  course  of  time, 
were  in  many  instances  plastered  or  cemented  over 
on  the  outside,  and  painted  white.  But  the 
importance  and  use  of  springhouses  have  been 
greatly  diminished,  in  fact,  in  many  instances 
their  use  for  any  purpose  has  been  discontinued, 
or  at  times  they  have  been  converted  into  chicken 
coops,  owing  to  the  present  general  practice  of 
sending  either  to  the  creameries  or  to  the  milk- 
dealers  in  the  cities  nearly  all  the  milk  produced 


54 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


on  the  farms,  while  the  butter  needed  is  being 
more  and  more  purchased,  instead  of  being 
churned  at  home;  as  is  also  at  times  purchased — 
from  the  creameries — even  skimmed  milk,  when 
that  is  wanted  for  feed  for  the  hogs. 

Carpets  did  not  begin  to  find  their  way  into 
the  Pennsylvania- German  farmhouses  until  late 
in  the  eighteenth  century,  or  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth.  In  Philadelphia  and  perhaps  in  the 
homes  of  some  country  people  where  conditions 
favored  it,  before  carpets  came  into  use,  clean 
white  sand  was  sprinkled  on  the  floors  and  deftly 
spread  with  a  broom  so  as  to  form  spirals  and  other 
simple,  pleasing  patterns.  But  the  Pennsylvania- 
German  housewives  on  farms  had  no  time  for 
doing  that  sort  of  thing.  Besides,  their  ideal  of  a 
floor  was  one  scoured  scrupulously  clean.  How¬ 
ever,  carpets  and  rugs,  both  homemade  ones  and 
such  as  are  sold  in  the  stores,  are  now  to  be  found 
in  abundance  in  most  of  the  farmhouses. 

Candles  continued  long  to  be  the  main  depend¬ 
ence  for  artificial  lighting,  but  were  to  some  extent 
gradually  replaced  with  lamps  of  a  primitive  kind, 
in  which  lard  was  generally  burned.  The  lamps 


GENERAL  LIFE  AND  CHANGES 


55 


were  of  many  different  patterns,  although  they 
were  alike  in  principle.  Some  of  them  were  made 
of  iron,  a  common  form  of  these  being  that  of  a 
small,  shallow  covered,  round  or  oval-shaped  ves¬ 
sel,  with  a  handle  at  the  side,  or  bent  upward  and 
with  an  opening  or  groove  for  the  insertion  through 
it  of  a  wick.  But  more  of  the  lamps  were  made 
of  tin.  These  were  of  various  sizes  and  shapes, 
some  of  them  looking  much  like  covered  tin  cups, 
and  others  like  miniature  teapots  or  oil  cans  of 
larger  circumference  at  the  base  than  at  the  top. 
All  had  handles,  and  most  of  them  had  a  spout, 
on  the  side  opposite  the  handle,  for  the  wick  to 
pass  through,  but  some  had  a  spout  or  several 
spouts  or  tubes  extending  upward  from  the  top, 
each  one  to  hold  a  wick.  Not  one  of  these  lamps 
had  a  chimney.  All  of  them  were  smoky,  emitted 
disagreeable  odors,  and  gave  but  a  comparatively 
poor  light.  After  them,  in  the  second  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  came  kerosene  oil  lamps 
with  glass  chimneys. 

The  lanterns  for  a  very  long  time  were  usually 
round  ones  made  of  tin  perforated  with  either 
small  round  or  longish  thin  holes  arranged  in 


56 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


concentric  circles  and  other  ways,  through  which 
the  light  from  a  tallow  candle  could  shine  only 
dimly.  Another  style  of  tallow-candle  lantern  that 
came  to  be  used  more  or  less  was  square  in  its 
basal  form,  and  had  bottom,  top,  removable  back, 
and  corners  from  top  to  bottom  made  of  tin, 
while  the  front  and  two  sides  were  of  glass. 

Near  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century 
apple  mills  and  cider  presses  commenced  to  be 
used.  Prior  to  that  time  cider  was  ordinarily 
made  by  mashing  apples  in  a  strong  cask,  tub, 
or  trough  by  stamping  them  with  a  knot  or  the 
equivalent  of  wood  at  the  end  of  a  long  handle, 
after  which  the  pulpy  mass  was  put  into  a  kind 
of  open-work  basket  that  was  hung  to  the  limb  of  a 
tree,  while  a  vessel  of  some  sort  was  set  under  the 
basket  to  catch  the  juice,  which  was  pressed  out  by 
heavy  stones  placed  on  top  of  the  mashed  apples. 

A  form  of  apple  mill  or  grinder  that  came  to  be 
used,  instead  of  the  pounding  or  stamping  to 
reduce  the  apples  to  a  pulp,  consisted  of  two  solid 
cylinders  about  15  inches  in  diameter  and  20 
inches  in  length,  cut  from  the  trunk  of  a  tree 
and  set  upright,  side  by  side,  in  a  stout  wooden 


GENERAL  LIFE  AND  CHANGES 


57 


frame,  one  of  the  cylinders  extending  upward 
as  a  shaft  to  which  was  attached  a  moderately 
long,  strong  pole  or  sweep,  to  which  a  horse 
would  be  hitched  to  operate  the  mill  by  going 
round  and  round  it.  A  hopper  received  the  apples 
and  fed  them  to  the  cylinders,  one  of  which  had 
notches  into  which  the  other  had  cogs  or  projec¬ 
tions  to  fit. 

Much  more  ponderous  were  the  cider  presses 
that  were  employed  to  press  the  cider  out  of  the 
apple  pulp.  They  varied  somewhat  in  form  and 
size,  but  each  press  had  its  heavy  beam,  which 
was  sometimes  as  much  as  25  feet  long  and  18 
inches  or  more  square.  In  some  of  the  presses 
this  beam  was  at  one  of  its  ends  pivoted  3  or  4 
feet  above  the  ground  in  a  huge  post  set  in  a  strong 
foundation,  and  in  the  middle  and  at  the  other 
end  upheld  by  some  kind  of  a  support.  The 
apple  pulp  to  be  pressed  was  put  into  a  frame  of 
from  3  to  4  feet  square  placed  on  a  tight  bottom 
of  boards  or  planks  directly  under  the  beam  near 
its  pivoted  end,  layers  of  straw  or  of  cloth  being 
placed  between  layers  of  the  pulp.  Then  a 
movable  board  cover,  closely  fitted  to  the  inside 


58 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


of  the  frame  and  having  a  block  of  wood  on  it  so 
arranged  that  the  pressure  of  the  weight  of  the 
beam  would  be  applied  to  it  and  press  it  down, 
was  put  on  top  of  the  pulp,  and  the  weight  of 
the  beam  let  down  upon  it.  Very  often  the 
frame  was  made  of  a  number  of  frames  about 
3  or  4  inches  deep  placed  on  top  of  one  another. 
An  opening  at  the  bottom  of  the  frame  allowed 
the  cider,  when  it  was  pressed  out,  to  run  into  a 
vessel  set  to  receive  it.  To  increase  the  pressure, 
heavy  stones  or  blocks  of  wood  were  often  put  on 
the  free  end  of  beam.  After  it  had  been  lowered, 
in  using  the  press,  the  beam  was  raised  again  by 
means  either  of  a  lever  on  a  high  fulcrum  or  of  a 
lengthy,  vertical  wooden  screw  about  io  inches  in 
diameter,  under  the  free  end  of  the  beam.  When 
the  beam  was  raised  with  a  lever  it  was  held  at 
each  new  height  either  by  wooden  blocks  put 
under  it  or  by  a  strong  iron  pin  inserted  into  a  hole 
made  for  it  in  an  upright  standard.  In  order  to 
preserve  the  press  for  many  years  it  sometimes 
had  a  roof  built  over  it. 

Cider,  however,  was  not  made  altogether  for 
use  as  a  beverage.  For  many  years  it  was  very 


GENERAL  LIFE  AND  CHANGES 


59 


extensively  made  and  used  for  making  cider  vin¬ 
egar  for  the  Philadelphia  market.  Considerable 
cider  was  also  used  in  making  apple  butter,  the 
“schnitz”  or  pieces  of  apple  being  boiled  in  it. 

The  daily  fare  changed  somewhat  from  that 
of  the  pioneers  but  in  the  essentials  remained 
much  the  same  as  theirs.  Some  of  the  more  com¬ 
mon  dishes  of  later  times  were  bread  and  either 
scalded  or  cold  milk;  cornmeal  mush  and  milk; 
soup  made  of  potatoes,  or  with  pieces  of  dough 
or  noodles;  pork  with  sauerkraut;  pork  and 
dumplings;  sausage;  liverwurst  or  pudding;  souse 
or  pickled  pigs’  feet;  scrapple;  bread  and  apple 
butter,  preserves  or  jelly,  and  smearcase  or  cottage 
cheese;  apple  fritters;  dried-apple  and  other  kinds 
of  pies;  cookies,  and  cakes  of  different  sorts. 
Most  of  these  are  favorites  yet,  and  constitute  a 
great  portion  of  the  meals  of  today.  Even  church 
suppers  and  those  given  by  Bible  classes  in  Lan¬ 
caster  during  the  winter  are  announced  in  the 
local  newspapers  most  frequently  as  being  sauer¬ 
kraut,  baked-ham,  or  roast-pork  suppers. 

At  one  time  bread  was  often  placed  on  the 
table  in  pieces  a  quarter  of  a  loaf  in  size,  from  which 


6o 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


each  person  cut  as  much  as  he  wanted.  Something 
like  that  is  still  to  be  seen  in  the  somewhat  common 
practice  of  putting  uncut  pies  on  the  table,  for 
each  person  to  cut  and  remove  with  his  own  knife 
a  piece  of  such  size  as  he  may  desire.  If  pies  of 
several  kinds  are  thus  served  it  does  not  necessarily 
mean  that  it  is  expected  a  piece  of  each  will  be 
taken.  Neither  is  it  always  intended  that  a 
person  shall  partake  of  all  the  preserves  and  jellies, 
but  rather  that  he  may  have  his  choice,  when 
there  are  several  kinds  on  the  table.  The  common 
practice  has  generally  been  for  each  person,  even 
if  he  be  a  guest,  to  reach  for,  and  help  himself  to, 
whatever  he  wishes  that  is  on  the  table.  In 
order  to  facilitate  the  doing  of  this,  when  the 
table  is  a  long  one,  duplicate  dishes  of  some  foods 
are  sometimes  placed  at  the  ends  of  the  table. 
Nor  has  it  always  been  thought  necessary  to 
furnish  spoons  with  the  dishes  from  which  are 
to  be  taken  helpings  of  such  articles  as  apple 
butter,  preserves,  smearcase,  sugar,  and  molasses, 
it  being  considered  entirely  proper  for  each  person 
to  use  his  own  spoon,  or  knife,  in  helping  himself 
from  any  of  these  dishes. 


GENERAL  LIFE  AND  CHANGES 


61 


In  his  Travels ,  Isaac  Weld,  junior,  who  referred 
to  Philadelphia  as  being  the  largest  city  in  the 
Union,  and  to  Lancaster — which  then  had  about 
nine  hundred  houses,  most  of  which  were  built 
either  of  brick  or  of  stone — as  being  the  largest 
inland  town  in  North  America,  described  the 
taverns  in  1796  as  being  in  general  very  indifferent 
ones,  mainly  kept  by  farmers,  and  conducted 
nearly  the  same  everywhere.  He  said  that  on 
their  arrival  travelers  were  shown  into  a  room 
common  to  everyone,  which  room  was  used  also 
as  a  dining-room.  At  night  the  travelers  must 
often  submit  to  being  crammed  into  rooms  where 
there  was  scarcely  sufficient  space  to  walk  between 
the  beds.  If  a  traveler  could  procure  a  few  eggs 
with  a  little  bacon,  he  ought  to  be  satisfied,  as  it 
was  twenty  to  one  that  a  bit  of  fresh  meat,  or 
any  salted  meat  except  pork,  could  not  be  had. 
Vegetables  also  appeared  to  be  very  scarce.  If  a 
person  got  any,  it  was  generally  either  turnips, 
or  turnip  tops  boiled  as  greens. 

Other  chroniclers  have  stated  that  along 
highways  used  by  wagoners,  when  all  transporta¬ 
tion  was  done  by  wagon,  it  was  a  common  practice 


62 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


for  the  wagoners  to  carry  their  own  bedding, 
of  the  simplest  kind,  which  at  night  they  laid 
on  the  floors  in  the  barrooms  of  the  taverns  at 
which  they  stayed.  Farmers  frequently  did  the 
same  thing,  in  Philadelphia,  when  they  went 
there  to  market.  But  taverns  patronized  largely 
by  wagoners  were  often  found  by  travelers  to  be 
particularly  unpleasant  places  at  which  to  lodge. 

Nor  would  a  traveler  fare  much  better  than 
at  an  ordinary  tavern,  if  he  stayed  overnight  at 
some  farmhouses.  This  is  shown  by  a  description 
of  table  customs  and  home  life — the  outgrowth  of 
poverty  and  many  adverse  circumstances — given 
by  Francis  Baily,  president  of  the  Royal  Astronom¬ 
ical  Society,  as  one  of  his  experiences  in  October, 
1790,  in  what  is  now  Franklin  County.  He  said 
that  about  13  miles  from  Chambersburg  he  and 
a  companion  came  at  nightfall  to  a  place  which 
they  had  mistakenly  understood  was  a  tavern, 
which  was  “kept  by  some  Dutchmen,”  who  very 
reluctantly  consented  to  letting  them  stay  over¬ 
night.  Supper  was  eaten  with  the  family  of 
seven  or  eight  persons.  The  table,  which  had  no 
cloth  on  it,  was  placed  in  the  middle  of  the  room, 


The  Oldest  Building  in  the  City  of  Lancaster 
The  “Plough”  Tavern,  built  about  1748 


A  Row  of  Old-Style  Buildings  in  Lancaster 
The  sixth  building  from  the  left  was  the  “  Cat”  Tavern,  built  about  1760 


GENERAL  LIFE  AND  CHANGES 


63 


and  was  lighted  by  a  blazing  fire  in  the  fireplace 
at  one  end.  The  meal  began  with  warmed 
sour  milk  that  was  placed  on  the  table  in  a  large 
bowl,  from  which  it  was  eaten  by  all  dipping 
their  spoons  in  it.  After  that,  a  dish  of  stewed 
pork,  accompanied  with  hot  pickled  cabbage  or  hot 
slaw,  was  served  and  devoured  in  a  similar  manner 
to  that  in  which  the  milk  had  been,  or  else  with 
two  or  three  persons  eating  off  one  plate.  Then 
a  large  bowl  of  cold  milk  and  bread  was  set  on 
the  table  and  partaken  of  in  the  same  way  as 
was  the  first  dish,  using  the  spoons  just  taken  out 
of  the  greasy  pork-dish.  After  supper  the  travelers 
were  ushered  up  a  ladder  into  a  place  where  a  small 
hole  in  the  wall  served  as  a  window,  and  where 
there  were  four  or  five  beds,  each  of  which  con¬ 
sisted  of  nothing  more  than  one  feather  bed 
placed  on  another.  The  candle  with  which  they 
were  shown  to  their  bed  was  immediately  taken 
away.  In  the  morning,  the  travelers,  who, 
having  been  tired,  slept  soundly,  discovered  that 
they  had  passed  the  night  in  company  with  the 
whole  family,  the  members  of  which  had  occupied 
the  other  beds. 


64 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


Of  course,  not  everybody  even  in  the  earliest 
days  and  in  the  smallest  log  cabins  ate  their 
meals  after  that  fashion,  or  had  things  as  dirty 
as  it  was  further  said  those  people  had  them. 
Nevertheless,  among  Christopher  Dock’s  One 
Hundred  Necessary  Rides  of  Conduct  for  Children , 
which  was  published  about  1764,  there  were 
admonitions  that  one  should  avoid  everything 
having  the  appearance  of  ravenous  hunger,  such 
as  to  be  the  first  in  the  dish;  that  one  should  stay 
at  his  own  place  in  the  dish;  and  that  he  should 
not  put  back  into  the  dish  what  he  had  once  had 
on  his  plate.  Other  injunctions  were  not  to  wipe 
the  plate  either  with  the  finger,  or  with  the  tongue; 
and  that  greasy  fingers  should  be  wiped  with  a 
cloth,  not  licked.  A  fork  should  be  used  as  much 
as  possible,  instead  of  the  fingers;  and  with  the 
point  of  one’s  knife,  instead  of  with  his  fingers, 
should  salt  be  taken  from  the  salt-box.  Bones 
and  other  scraps  should  neither  be  thrown  under 
the  table  nor  put  under  the  table  cloth,  but  left 
on  the  edge  of  the  plate;  and  pieces  of  bread 
should  not  be  put  into  the  pocket,  but  left  on  the 
table. 


GENERAL  LIFE  AND  CHANGES 


65 


Men  and  women  toiled  hard,  from  early  in  the 
morning  until  late  in  the  evening.  There  was, 
as  a  rule,  no  compulsion  on  either  side  other  than 
that  of  circumstances.  Nor  was  there  any  inclina¬ 
tion  to  shirk;  but  both  men  and  the  women 
undertook  to  do  all  they  could;  and  apparently, 
as  a  class,  neither  especially  suffered  ill  from  it. 

Life  had  its  satisfaction  for  them  in  their  having 
their  own  farms,  and  in  their  working  for  them¬ 
selves,  as  also  in  their  seeing  their  property 
increase  in  value,  and  in  seeing  their  children 
grow  up  about  as  they  would  have  them. 

There  were  also  diversions.  For  the  men  there 
was  at  times  hunting;  and  for  the  boys,  fishing. 
The  men,  moreover,  derived  considerable  pleasure 
from  the  frolics  or  bees  in  which  they  helped  one 
another,  as  in  harvesting  and  in  husking  corn, 
when  they  combined  with  their  work  the  exchang¬ 
ing  of  gossip,  feasting  and  drinking,  and  making 
merry  generally.  Something  like  frolics,  too,  were 
the  popular  and  frequently  held  vendues  or  public 
sales,  which,  shorn  of  some  of  their  earlier  side- 
attractions,  are  still  common  in  some  localities, 
particularly  in  Lancaster  County,  when  people 


66 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


for  various  reasons  want  to  sell  live  stock,  farm 
equipment,  or  household  goods. 

The  bees  for  paring  and  cutting  apples  into 
pieces  called  “schnitz,”  either  to  be  dried  or  to 
be  made  into  apple  butter,  might  be  participated 
in  by  both  men  and  women;  and,  like  huskings, 
were  frequently  for  the  young  people  not  only 
occasions  of  social  enjoyment  but  also  of  love- 
making. 

From  the  time  that  rag  carpets  and  quilts 
began  to  be  used  the  women  had  bees  for  sewing 
carpet  rags,  and  bees  for  quilting,  which  were  as 
much  social  events  as  they  were  utilitarian  affairs. 

Furthermore,  informal  visiting  between  rela¬ 
tives  and  between  friends  living  in  the  same 
neighborhood  has  always  been  popular,  and  has 
been  practiced  a  great  deal — possibly  more  than 
ever,  and  over  a  wider  range  of  territory,  since 
automobiles  have  come  into  general  use.  Besides, 
every  year  has  had  its  holidays,  and  perhaps 
festive  occasions,  such  as  weddings,  which  have 
been  whole-heartedly  enjoyed. 

Nor  must  it  be  forgotten  that  for  many  if  not 
for  most  men  of  earlier  times  the  numerous 


GENERAL  LIFE  AND  CHANGES 


67 


taverns  that  were  established  in  the  villages  and 
along  the  main  highways  furnished  places  of  good 
cheer,  much  like  clubs,  in  which  to  congregate 
and  discuss  weather,  crops,  politics,  and  general 
affairs  of  the  neighborhood.  As  a  whole,  the 
earlier  Pennsylvania  Germans  were  far  from 
practicing  total  abstinence,  although  according 
to  various  reports  they  were  much  more  temperate 
in  the  use  of  intoxicants  than  were  some  of  their 
contemporaries  of  other  lineage. 

Children  were  generally  reared  under  strict 
discipline,  and  were  early  taught  to  work,  yet 
had  their  play  and  games.  So  also  did  the  young 
people — who,  like  their  parents,  worked  hard — 
have,  particularly  in  winter,  their  sports,  parties, 
and  games.  Dancing  was  popular  with  those  who 
did  not  have  religious  scruples  against  it. 

Courtships  were  usually  begun  as  soon  as 
what  was  regarded  as  a  marriageable  age  was 
reached,  and  were  conducted  with  vigor — occasion¬ 
ally  either  in  a  boorish  or  in  what  would  now  be 
deemed  an  improper  manner.  But  the  marriage 
of  all  young  folks  was  looked  forward  to  as  a 
matter  of  course.  Mothers  often  started  their 


68 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


daughters  at  early  ages  toward  filling  “hope 
chests,”  or  each  making  a  chestful  of  quilts, 
household  linens,  and  garments  for  use  after 
marriage.  Of  the  marriages  that  followed,  appar¬ 
ently  as  large  a  proportion  were  satisfactory  and 
happy  as  could  possibly  have  been  the  case  under 
any  circumstances. 

When  a  married  woman  speaks  of  her  husband, 
she  almost  invariably  calls  him,  in  accordance 
with  a  widely  prevalent  custom,  “the  mister.” 
She  will  say,  for  example:  “The  mister  is  in  the 
field.”  Similarly,  the  husband  commonly  refers 
to  his  wife  as  “the  missus.” 

The  subjects  of  religion  and  education  as 
pertaining  to  the  Pennsylvania  Germans  will  be 
considered  together,  and  next. 


CHAPTER  V 


RELIGION  AND  EDUCATION 

Religion  and  education  were  closely  related 
in  the  thoughts  of  the  Pennsylvania  Germans, 
and  for  their  children  the  two  were  long  promoted 
together,  either  under  one  roof  or  in  adjacent 
buildings.  The  general  opinion  was  that  the 
work  of  education  should  be  left  to  the  church, 
to  be  either  conducted  or  supervised  by  the  latter, 
for  the  spiritual  as  well  as  the  intellectual  benefit 
of  the  children. 

The  great  majority  of  the  German  settlers 
were  Lutherans,  members  of  the  Reformed  church, 
and  Mennonites.  Most  of  the  others  were  German 
Baptist  Brethren  or  Dunkers,  Moravians,  and 
Schwenkfelders,  with  smaller  numbers  of  some 
other  persuasions.  Many  of  these  people  were 
possessed  of  strong  religious  convictions  which 
dominated  their  lives,  while  the  general  character 
of  all  may  be  said  to  have  been  religious.  Yet 
there  were  in  the  aggregate  a  considerable  number 


69 


70 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


of  persons  who  apparently  left  their  religion,  or 
at  least  their  connection  with  the  church,  behind 
them,  for,  when  they  found  themselves  in  an 
environment  free  from  ecclesiastical  control,  they 
not  only  failed  to  ally  themselves  with  any 
religious  body  but  neglected  to  attend  any  form 
of  public  worship.  Still  others,  or  their  descend¬ 
ants,  becoming  dissatisfied  with  all  the  old  religious 
organizations,  formed  or  joined  new  ones. 

Thus  did  different  religious  conditions  prevail, 
often  in  close  proximity  to  one  another,  and  give 
rise  to  some  apparently  contradictory  conclusions. 
For  instance,  from  some  statements  which  have 
been  made  a  person  might  infer  that  all  the  German 
settlers  were  very  devout;  that  every  company 
of  them  brought  with  them  their  pastor;  and  that 
houses  of  worship  were  built  without  much  delay 
and  in  sufficient  numbers  to  meet  all  needs 
therefor.  On  the  other  hand,  it  would  appear, 
from  some  contemporaneous  accounts,  that  there 
were  many  persons  who  were  utterly  indifferent 
to  religious  matters;  that  various  bodies  of  church 
members  were  long  without  pastors;  that  some¬ 
times  when  the  services  of  the  only  preachers 


Lutheran  Church 
Built  of  stone  in  1767,  at  New  Hanover 


Augustus  Lutheran  Church  at  Trappe 

The  oldest  Lutheran  church  in  America,  built  of  stone  in  1743,  and  after¬ 
ward  covered  with  plaster 


RELIGION  AND  EDUCATION 


7i 


who  could  be  had  were  accepted  they  proved  to 
be  such  that  it  was  resolved  by  the  congregations 
that  thereafter  no  one  should  be  allowed  to  preach 
in  their  pulpits  without  first  presenting  satisfactory 
credentials;  and  that  many  young  people  grew 
up  without  having  any  religious  instruction. 

At  first,  meetings  of  one  form  or  another  for 
worship  were  held  in  private  houses.  Then, 
here  and  there  a  small  log  meeting-house  was 
built.  Some  of  the  early  meeting-houses  had 
for  a  while  only  the  bare  ground  for  their  floors; 
others  had  floors  built  of  stones,  or,  when  procur¬ 
able,  occasionally  of  brick.  In  a  few  instances, 
a  flat  stump  or  a  cross-section  of  a  log  served  for 
a  pulpit,  and  partially  hewed  logs  for  seats.  The 
windows  were  small  and  glazed  with  small  panes 
of  plain  glass.  No  provision  was  made  until 
quite  a  late  date  for  warming  the  meeting¬ 
houses  in  winter,  and  few  foot-stoves  were  used, 
as  most  of  the  women  were  as  hardy  as  the  men. 

Until  well  along  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
practically  everybody  who  went  to  church  either 
went  on  foot,  or,  when  the  distance  was  too  great 
for  that,  they  rode  on  horseback.  After  the 


72 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


two-wheeled  carts  came  into  use  a  family  might 
occasionally  be  seen  riding  to  church,  seated  on 
bundles  of  straw  in  a  cart  drawn  by  oxen.  In  the 
summer  those  who  walked  to  church  often  did  it 
barefooted,  carrying  their  shoes  in  their  hands 
until  they  were  near  the  meeting-house,  when  they 
would  stop  to  put  on  their  shoes,  and  after  church 
might  stop  again  at  the  same  place  to  take  off 
their  shoes  for  the  walk  home. 

Funerals  were  usually  attended  by  almost 
everybody  for  miles  around.  Largely  owing  to 
that  fact,  refreshments  were  served.  Sometimes 
one  person  with  pieces  of  cake  in  a  dish,  and 
another  person  with  some  ardent  drink,  would 
wait  on  the  people  as  they  arrived  at  the  house, 
and  a  full  meal  would  be  served  there  after  the 
return  from  the  cemetery;  or  the  meal  might  be 
served  at  once,  if  the  cemetery  was  very  far  away. 
So  much  was  often  made  of  these  occasions  that 
not  a  few  persons  planned  years  ahead  to  have 
such  feasts  at  their  funerals  as  might  be  deemed 
worthy  of  them  and  be  remembered  appreciatively 
by  their  surviving  friends  and  neighbors.  But 
the  unseemly  results  which  now  and  then  followed 


RELIGION  AND  EDUCATION 


73 


from  inordinate  drinking  finally  led  the  ministers 
to  use  their  influence  to  have  the  serving  of 
liquors  in  connection  with  funerals  abolished. 

Schools  generally  came  after  the  organization 
of  churches,  but  sometimes  first.  Some  of  the 
early  meeting-houses  were  used  during  the  week 
for  school  purposes,  though  usually  for  a  limited 
period  only,  after  which  separate  log  schoolhouses 
were  built  near  the  meeting-houses.  This  meant 
that  for  many  years  schools  were  not  numerous 
and  were  not  easily  attended  by  more  than  a  few 
pupils. 

Schoolmasters,  too,  were  for  a  long  time  as 
scarce  as  were  pastors;  and  some  of  the  former 
proved  as  unfit  in  their  sphere  as  did  some  of  the 
latter  in  theirs.  In  some  instances,  pastors 
rendered  service  also  as  schoolmasters.  Again, 
pastors  sometimes  had  assistants  who  conducted 
the  schools.  In  other  cases,  where  there  were 
schoolmasters  and  no  pastors,  the  schoolmasters 
sometimes  read  sermons  on  Sunday,  and,  in  so 
far  as  they  could,  looked  after  both  the  religious 
and  the  educational  welfare  of  their  communities. 
An  exceptionally  zealous  schoolmaster  occasionally 


74 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


undertook  to  conduct  two  or  even  three  schools 
in  rotation,  so  as  to  enable  as  many  children  and 
youths  as  possible  to  get  the  rudiments  of  an 
education. 

Reverend  Henry  Melchior  Muhlenberg,  while 
serving  as  the  pastor  of  three  German  Lutheran 
churches,  wrote  in  his  diary,  in  January,  1743, 
that,  since  ignorance  among  the  youths  was  great, 
and  good  schoolmasters  were  rarely  to  be  found, 
he  had  to  take  this  matter  also  into  his  hands, 
his  plan  being  to  go  to  the  three  congregations, 
remaining  in  each  successively  one  week.  He 
said  that  it  did  not  look  very  promising  to  see 
youths  of  from  seventeen  to  twenty  years  of  age 
appear  with  the  “A-B-C  book”;  yet  he  rejoiced 
in  finding  the  desire  to  learn  something.  When 
some  young  men  came  to  his  school  who  wished 
to  learn  English,  he  felt  that  also  afforded  him  an 
opportunity  to  do  good;  and  he  read  with  them 
the  New  Testament  in  English.  Singing,  he  said, 
had  entirely  died  out  among  the  young  people. 

In  most  of  the  earlier  schools  the  instruction 
was  given  in  German,  and  either  the  Bible  or  the 
New  Testament  was  the  principal  textbook. 


RELIGION  AND  EDUCATION 


75 


There  were  devotional  exercises  which  consisted 
of  the  reading  of  passages  of  Scripture,  of  prayer, 
and  of  the  singing  of  hymns.  In  addition  to 
this,  there  was  also  more  or  less  religious  instruc¬ 
tion  given.  The  general  aim  was  to  teach  the 
pupils  to  read  well  enough  to  be  able  to  read  the 
Bible,  to  spell  and  to  write  passably,  and  to  cipher 
to  the  limited  extent  that  it  might  be  expected 
to  be  needed  for  ordinary  computations.  That 
amount  of  education  practically  all  parents 
wanted  their  children — at  least  their  boys — to 
have,  but  not  much  more,  while  it  was  often 
thought  that  girls  would  get  along  just  as  well 
with  less.  This  is  explained  largely  by  the  fact 
that  most  parents  wanted  their  sons  to  become 
farmers,  and  expected  their  daughters  to  become 
the  wives  of  farmers  and  to  do  much  as  the  girls’ 
mothers  had  done,  whereas  more  education 
appeared  to  cause  dissatisfaction  with  farm  life. 
When,  comparatively  late,  the  establishment  of 
public  schools  was  being  considered  or  undertaken, 
they  were  strongly  objected  to  because  they  would 
not  give  the  particular  kind  of  education  desired, 
or  that  which  was  in  German,  and  religious. 


76 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


The  private  and  parochial  schools  were  sup¬ 
ported  by  parents  paying,  at  a  low  rate,  for  each 
child  they  sent  to  school.  But  the  meager 
compensation  of  the  schoolmasters  was  sometimes 
augmented,  like  that  of  the  pastors,  by  gifts. 

An  interesting  description  of  what  may  be 
considered  to  have  been  in  various  respects  a 
model  school  in  its  day  is  contained  in  Christopher 
Dock’s  School  Management ,  which  was  written 
in  1750.  Christopher  Dock  was  a  Mennonite, 
who,  with  others  of  that  faith,  settled  near  Skip- 
pack  Creek  in  what  is  now  Montgomery  County. 
For  ten  years,  commencing  about  1718,  he  taught 
school  there.  Then  he  farmed  most  of  the  time 
for  ten  years,  after  which,  owing  to  much  solicita¬ 
tion,  he  returned  to  teaching,  which  he  thenceforth 
continued  for  about  thirty-two  years,  twelve 
years  of  the  time  in  two  schools,  one  in  Skippack 
Township,  and  the  other  in  Salford  Township, 
giving  three  days  a  week  to  each,  alternately. 

He  was  a  man  of  kind  heart  and  exemplary 
piety  who  loved  children,  even  if  some  of  those 
with  whom  he  came  into  contact  lacked  in  cleanli¬ 
ness,  or,  what  was  worse,  were  prone,  as  he  said, 


The  Oldest  Schoolhouse  in  Germantown 

A  building  erected  by  St.  Michael’s  Lutheran  Church  before  1740,  and 

restored  in  1915 


Cloister  Buildings  at  Ephrata 
Erected  by  the  early  German  Seventh  Day  Baptists 


RELIGION  AND  EDUCATION 


77 


to  use  bad  words,  to  lie,  and  to  steal.  Except 
for  such  apparent  partiality  as  may  be  required 
to  protect  children  of  good  breeding  and  character 
from  being  spoiled  by  those  ill-bred  or  depraved, 
it  is  the  duty  of  the  schoolmaster,  he  declared, 
to  be  impartial — to  determine  nothing  by  favorit¬ 
ism  or  appearance;  and,  if  its  conduct  is  good,  or 
it  is  willing  to  be  instructed,  the  poor  child,  for 
teaching  which  not  a  penny  may  be  received, 
must  be  as  dear  to  him  as  the  child  of  the  rich 
from  whom  a  liberal  reward  may  be  expected. 

Christopher  Dock  believed,  furthermore,  in 
giving  children  rewards  for  merit.  He  said  that 
when  a  child  had  learned  its  letters  its  father 
must  give  it  a  penny,  and  its  mother  must  cook 
for  it  two  eggs;  while,  when  it  began  to  read, 
if  it  had  been  industrious,  he  himself  would  give 
it  a  ticket  on  which  was  written:  “ industrious — 
one  penny.”  Sometimes  he  made  with  chalk  an 
“O”  on  the  hand  of  a  child,  to  show  that  it  had 
failed  in  nothing.  At  other  times  the  reward 
was  a  carefully  written  token  containing  a  maxim, 
or,  more  likely,  a  verse  from  the  Bible;  or  else 
it  was  a  simple,  painted  picture  of  a  flower  or  of 


78 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


a  bird,  similar  to  pictures  which  were  during  a 
century  or  more  given  by  Pennsylvania- German 
schoolmasters  to  their  pupils. 

Severity  he  considered  was  to  be  used  with 
caution  and  discrimination.  A  timid  child  might 
be  more  injured  than  benefited  if  punished 
severely  either  with  words  or  with  the  rod.  In 
the  same  way,  a  stupid  child  might  be  harmed 
by  blows,  while  a  child  accustomed  to  them  at 
home  would  not  be  made  right  by  them  at  school, 
but  must  be  made  better  by  some  other  means. 
However,  obstinate  children  having  no  hesitation 
in  doing  wrong  should  be  sharply  punished  with 
the  rod  and  at  the  same  time  addressed  with 
earnest  exhortation  from  the  Word  of  God,  to 
see  whether  the  heart  could  be  reached.  Another 
way  in  which  some  perverse  pupils  might  be 
punished,  as  they  were  here  at  times,  was  to 
make  them  sit  on  what  was  called  the  punishment 
bench,  and  to  compel  them  to  wear  yokes  around 
their  necks  as  an  additional  sign  that  they  were 
being  punished. 

New  pupils  were  assigned  to  volunteers  among 
the  older  ones,  for  assistance;  and  to  make  sure 


RELIGION  AND  EDUCATION 


79 


that  wrongdoers  kept  their  promises  of  amendment 
they  were  sometimes  required  to  get  the  bail  or 
undertaking  of  other  pupils  to  see  that  what 
they  said  they  would  do  was  done. 

When  such  of  the  pupils  as  lived  near  enough 
to  the  school  to  get  there  on  time  arrived  in  the 
morning,  those  of  them  who  could  read  sat  down, 
the  boys  on  one  bench,  and  the  girls  on  another. 
They  were  then  given  a  chapter  in  the  New 
Testament  to  read.  After  all  had  come  and  they 
had  been  inspected  to  see  whether  they  were 
washed  and  combed,  a  hymn  or  a  psalm  was  sung, 
and  all  kneeling  recited  the  Lord’s  Prayer.  Then 
some  gave  their  attention  to  writing.  Recitations 
of  the  little  ones  and  others  were  heard.  A 
chapter  was  given  to  the  Testament  scholars  to 
learn;  words  were  given  to  be  spelled;  and  some¬ 
times  a  quotation  was  given  to  be  learned  by  all. 
Those  who  read  letters  and  news  sat  together; 
likewise,  those  who  ciphered.  When  a  lesson  was 
assigned,  the  pupils  studied  it  aloud,  according  to 
what  was  said  to  be  the  custom  there,  as  well  as 
in  England;  but  when  the  time  for  recitation  came 
a  rap  with  the  rod  on  the  table  or  on  a  bench 


8o 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


brought  silence,  and  one  after  another  repeated 
his  lesson.  After  the  children  had  eaten  their 
dinners,  in  order  to  keep  them  from  misusing 
the  remainder  of  the  intermission,  one  or  two 
pupils  would  be  designated  to  read,  until  school 
was  called,  from  the  Old  Testament — something 
historical;  or  from  Moses,  the  Prophets,  Solomon, 
or  Ecclesiastes.  Everything  was  in  German. 

When  the  master  went  from  one  of  his  schools 
to  the  other,  he  carried  letters  from  pupils  in 
the  one  school  to  those  in  the  other,  the  contents 
of  the  letters  being  a  short  rhyme  or  a  quotation 
from  the  Bible,  something  concerning  the  exercises 
in  the  school  or  about  the  motto  for  the  week,  and 
a  question  to  be  answered  with  a  quotation  from 
the  Scriptures. 

No  attempt  was  made  to  give  instruction  in 
any  one  form  of  catechism  or  faith,  because 
children  of  different  religious  opinions  and  practice 
were  received  into  the  school.  It  was  sought, 
however,  to  make  all  the  pupils  familiar  with  the 
New  Testament,  by  having  them  search  through 
it  as  a  whole  and  examine  the  chapters,  so  that 
they  might  be  prepared,  as  it  was  said,  to  collect 


RELIGION  AND  EDUCATION 


81 


richly  the  beautiful  and  fragrant  flowers  in  this 
Garden  of  Paradise. 

Now  the  elementary  education  of  the  children 
of  Pennsylvania- German  families  is  obtained 
almost  entirely  in  the  public  schools,  is  in  English, 
and  is  of  the  general  character  of  that  usually 
afforded  by  such  schools. 

Possibly  as  good  an  example  as  any  of  a  public 
school  in  a  rural  district  at  present  is  furnished 
by  one  located  some  miles  east  of  Lancaster, 
while  the  pupils  who  attend  it  are  of  special  interest 
on  account  of  their  peculiarity  of  dress,  they 
being  from  families  of  the  Old  Order  Amish,  who 
are  probably  today  the  most  conservative  body 
of  Pennsylvania  Germans.  The  schoolhouse  is  a 
modern  red-brick  one,  with  most  of  the  windows 
on  one  side  so  that  the  lighting  is  practically  over 
the  left  shoulders  of  the  pupils.  In  the  schoolroom 
there  are  modern  factory-made,  individual  seats 
and  desks  for  about  forty-five  pupils,  whereas, 
in  Christopher  Dock’s  schools,  unpainted,  long 
wooden  benches,  perhaps  with  sloping  boards 
about  5  inches  wide  attached  to  their  backs  to 
form  desks  for  those  who  sat  behind  them,  were 


82 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


used.  Again,  in  this  school  illustrative  of  condi¬ 
tions  now,  blackboards  cover  all  the  space  on 
the  walls  available  for  them,  while  Christopher 
Dock  used  as  a  blackboard  in  teaching  ciphering 
a  small,  narrow  noteboard,  with  longitudinal  lines 
on  it,  designed  for  use  in  teaching  music.  Then, 
where  he  either  drew  with  the  pen  or  painted 
pictures  of  birds  and  flowers,  which  he  gave  to 
his  pupils,  here  are  to  be  seen,  arranged  along 
the  top  of  the  blackboard,  outlines  of  birds, 
flowers,  and  other  objects  neatly  cut  out  of  colored 
paper,  or  painted  with  water  colors,  by  the 
pupils.  The  great  difference  between  the  modern 
and  the  old-time  school  is  also  shown  in  the  fact 
that  where,  in  the  latter,  the  master  made  and 
mended  goose-quill  pens  for  his  pupils,  now  an 
efficient  mechanical  lead-pencil  sharpener  may 
be  seen  conveniently  placed  for  the  pupils  to  use 
it  to  sharpen  their  lead  pencils,  and  do  it  better 
than  it  could  otherwise  be  done,  while  quill  pens 
have  long  been  superseded  by  steel  ones.  Further¬ 
more,  on  the  walls  of  this  public  school  there  are 
pictures  of  Washington  and  Lincoln,  several  small 
American  flags  and  mottoes  such  as:  “Smile,” 


RELIGION  AND  EDUCATION 


83 


“Be  Polite,”  “Be  Honest,”  “Be  Truthful.” 
In  the  windows  there  are  some  potted  plants. 
During  the  fall  and  winter  a  few  large  ears  of 
corn  are  displayed. 

A  recent  teacher  of  the  school  was  a  young 
woman  who  wore  the  white  head-covering  of  one 
of  the  plain  sects.  Most  likely  she  was  a  Mennon- 
ite.  She  opened  the”  school  at  half-past  eight  in 
the  morning  by  reading  a  psalm;  the  recital  of 
the  Lord’s  Prayer,  all  standing;  and  leading 
the  singing  by  all  of  a  gospel  hymn,  such,  for 
example,  as  “Beulah  Land.” 

In  their  general  character,  the  pupils  appeared 
to  be  about  the  same  as  those  attending  other 
schools  in  adjacent  country  districts,  although 
perhaps  a  little  more  reserved  in  the  presence  of 
strangers,  and  a  little  less  inclined  to  apply  them¬ 
selves  to  some  of  the  subjects  in  the  course  of 
study,  such  as  hygiene  and  language. 

The  boys,  sitting  on  one  side  of  the  room,  all 
had  their  jackets  off,  and  some  of  them  had  their 
vests  open.  Like  their  fathers,  they  had  hooks 
and  eyes,  instead  of  buttons,  on  their  jackets  and 
vests,  but  buttons  were  conspicuous  on  some  of 


84 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


their  flannel  shirts,  for  which  latter  a  plain,  bright 
blue  appeared  to  be  a  favorite  color.  Like  their 
fathers  again,  they  wore  their  hair  just  a  little 
long  all  around,  banged  in  front,  and  without 
any  shingling  or  thinning  down  toward  the  edge. 
Some  parted  their  hair  in  the  middle,  while  others 
simply  combed  it  out  straight.  But  that  some 
of  them  had  a  pride  in  the  way  their  hair  looked 
was  shown  by  one  youth  taking  from  his  pocket  a 
comb  and  borrowing  from  another  lad  a  small 
mirror,  with  the  aid  of  which  he  very  carefully 
smoothed  and  arranged  his  thick  locks.  The 
hats  worn  were  black,  with  moderately  broad, 
straight  brims,  and  low,  flat  crowns,  practically 
like  the  hats  worn  by  their  fathers,  except  smaller. 
Furthermore,  all  wore  long  trousers,  the  color  of 
which,  like  that  of  their  jackets  and  vests,  was 
generally  a  dark  gray,  a  dull  intermixture  of  black 
and  white,  or  with  small  black  and  white  stripes. 

Just  as  the  boys  of  all  ages  were  dressed  like 
their  fathers,  so  were  the  girls  in  the  school 
dressed  like  their  mothers.  The  dresses  of  the 
girls  were  all  plain  and  fairly  long,  with  long 
sleeves  and  ordinary,  high  necks.  In  color,  about 


A  Typical  Old  Public  Schoolhouse 
Adjacent  to  Mennonite  Church  and  Horse  Sheds,  at  Franconia 


Amish  Boys  Playing  Bai.l  at  Intermission  of  School 


RELIGION  AND  EDUCATION 


85 


half  a  dozen  of  the  dresses  were  purple;  others 
were  black,  blue,  or  brown.  On  some  of  them 
there  were  plenty  of  buttons  for  fastenings,  but 
none  had  them  for  ornament  alone.  The  nearest 
things  to  ornaments  were  black  collars  and  wrist¬ 
bands  on  some  of  the  purple  dresses.  Besides,  the 
greater  portions  of  the  dresses  were  hidden  under 
large  black  aprons  that  reached  to  the  bottoms  of 
the  skirts.  All  the  girls  had  their  hair  braided  and 
fastened  in  tight  coils  to  the  backs  of  their  heads. 
Two  or  three  of  the  older  girls,  who  had  joined 
the  church,  wore  white  caps  or  Mennonite  head¬ 
dresses.  In  going  to  and  from  the  school,  all  wore 
bonnets,  the  most  of  which  were  plain  black  ones, 
although  some  of  them  were  common  sunbonnets. 

In  the  course  of  time,  the  Lutherans  and  several 
other  denominations  established  schools  and  col¬ 
leges  that  have  developed  into  important  institu¬ 
tions  for  the  promotion  of  higher  education. 

Of  the  Mennonites  in  southeastern  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  as  a  religious  body  and  as  a  peculiarly 
interesting  existent,  comparatively  little-changed 
class  of  Pennsylvania  Germans,  a  somewhat 
detailed  description  seems  warranted. 


CHAPTER  VI 


THE  MENNONITES 

The  Mennonites  may  be  regarded  as  in  most 
respects  typical  Pennsylvania  Germans,  but  with 
a  somewhat  interesting  additional  distinctiveness 
in  their  religious  history  and  characteristics. 
Before  they  came  to  Pennsylvania  not  only  had 
their  lot  been  the  hard  one  common  to  the  masses 
of  the  German  people  but  one  frequently  made 
harder  by  bitter  persecution  for  their  religious 
beliefs  and  consistent  practice.  Most  of  them 
came  from  the  Palatinate,  but  some  of  them  came 
from  other  parts  of  Germany,  from  Holland,  and 
from  Switzerland.  They  were  called  Mennonites 
because  they  belonged  to  congregations  which 
either  had  been  organized  by  Menno  Simons  or 
sought  in  the  main  to  follow  his  interpretations 
of  the  Bible  and  his  teachings  based  on  them. 

Menno  Simons  was  born  in  Friesland  in  1492. 
He  was  educated  for  the  priesthood  in  the  Roman 
Catholic  church  and  served  therein  for  some 


86 


THE  MENNONITES 


87 


years,  becoming  quite  popular.  But  from  his 
study  of  the  Scriptures  he  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  baptism  of  infants  was  unwarranted, 
which  led  him  in  1536  to  renounce  the  Romish 
church  and  priesthood.  Afterward  he  became  the 
spiritual  leader  of  a  little  band  of  people  who 
believed  as  he  did  that  the  baptism  of  infants 
availed  nothing,  and  that  persons  baptized  in 
their  infancy  must  be  rebaptized  on  a  profession 
of  their  faith,  when  old  enough  to  make  such 
profession.  Then  he  engaged  in  the  organization 
of  churches  or  congregations,  where  there  were 
people  who  held  views  similar  to  his,  or  who 
accepted  his  views — in  Friesland,  in  Holland,  and 
in  parts  of  Germany.  He  was  not  so  much  a 
founder  of  a  new  church  or  sect  as  he  was  a 
gatherer-together  and  unifier  of  persons  whom  he 
found  here  and  there  believing  much  as  he  did. 
Nor  was  he  an  immersionist,  and  the  Mennonites 
generally  have  not  been  immersionists  but  prac¬ 
tices  of  baptism  by  pouring. 

The  doctrine  perhaps  second  in  general  impor¬ 
tance  maintained  by  Menno  Simons  was  that 
followers  of  the  teachings  of  Christ  could  not  bear 


88 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


any  sword  but  that  of  the  Spirit,  which  has  been 
one  of  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  Mennon- 
ites  through  most  of  their  history,  being  expressed 
in  their  doctrine  of  nonresistance  or  defenseless¬ 
ness,  and  practiced  with  firmness  in  an  almost 
uniform  refusal  to  bear  arms  or  in  any  manner 
to  participate  in  war. 

Several  other  doctrines  based  on  their  inter¬ 
pretations  of  passages  of  Scripture,  and  in  general 
strongly  maintained,  should  also  be  taken  into 
account  as  having  contributed  toward  giving  to 
the  Mennonites  their  special  religious  character. 
They  must  not  take  any  oath — must  “swear  not 
at  all,”  but  let  their  “communication  be  Yea,  yea; 
Nay,  nay.”  They  should  not  hold  any  civil 
office,  neither  should  they  otherwise  participate 
in  temporal  government;  but  they  may  pray  for 
their  government,  pay  their  taxes  to  it,  and  be 
obedient  to  it  in  everything  not  contrary  to  the 
law  of  God.  Refractory  members  of  the  church 
must  be  banned  and  be  shunned  or  avoided 
afterward  by  all  other  members.  A  member  of 
the  church  must  not  marry  anyone  not  belonging 
to  it.  The  biblical  ordinances  commanding  the 


THE  MENNONITES 


89 


washing  of  feet  and  the  saluting  of  the  brethren 
with  a  kiss  should  be  observed.  The  garb  should 
be  simple.  All  forms  of  ostentation  and  of 
worldly  vanities  and  pleasures  should  be  avoided. 

Some  of  these  doctrines,  steadfastly  held  by  a 
determined  people,  frequently  rendered  the  Men- 
nonites  obnoxious  both  to  the  authorities  of  the 
state  and  to  those  of  the  church  or  churches 
favored  by  the  state;  and  at  times  brought  dire 
persecution.  In  consequence,  at  different  periods 
many  Mennonites  fled  from  one  country  to 
another,  as,  for  example,  at  one  time  seeking  an 
asylum  in  Moravia;  at  another  time,  in  Holland; 
and  then,  in  the  Palatinate.  Very  often,  too, 
they  had  to  hide  in  the  mountains  and  to  hold 
their  meetings  with  the  utmost  secrecy.  Along 
in  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  they 
began  coming  with  some  frequency  to  make 
their  homes  in  Pennsylvania,  where  they  were 
assured  of  religious  liberty.  They  made  perma¬ 
nent  settlements  in  Germantown,  in  what  are 
now  Montgomery  and  Lancaster  counties,  and 
after  that  in  some  other  places  in  the  province. 
Moreover,  some  of  the  thirteen  families  from 


go 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


Crefeld,  in  Germany,  who  arrived  in  the  fall  of 
1683  and  helped  to  found  Germantown,  were 
Mennonites,  although  just  how  many  of  them 
were  is  a  matter  of  dispute. 

In  1708,  the  Mennonites  built  at  Germantown 
their  first  meeting-house  in  America.  It  was 
small,  and  was  built  of  logs.  In  1 770  that  meeting¬ 
house  was  replaced  with  a  small  stone  one,  which, 
with  an  addition  built  in  the  rear,  in  1908,  for 
Sunday-school  purposes,  is  still  in  use,  having 
been  acquired  by  the  division  of  the  Mennonites 
known  as  the  General  Conference  of  the  Mennon¬ 
ites  of  North  America,  and  being  maintained  by 
the  latter  as  a  sort  of  mission.  William  Rit ten- 
house,  who  in  1690  built  near  Germantown  the 
first  mill  in  America  for  the  manufacture  of  paper, 
was  the  first  minister  of  the  Mennonite  church  at 
Germantown. 

The  Mennonite  church  with  the  largest  mem¬ 
bership  at  the  present  time  is  the  one  at  Fran¬ 
conia,  in  Montgomery  County.  It  has  about 
seven  hundred  and  twenty-five  members.  The 
church,  or  meeting,  was  organized,  and  a  stone 
meeting-house  was  built,  about  1730.  Heinrich 


wBSES 


The  Oldest  Mennonite  Church  in  America 
The  front  part  was  built  of  stone  in  1770,  at  Germantown 


The  Oldest  Building  in  Lancaster  County 

A  house  built  by  Christian  Herr  in  1719 — about  6  miles  southeast  of 
Lancaster.  Meetings  were  held  in  it. 


THE  MENNONITES 


9i 


Rosenberger  was  one  of  the  first  members,  and 
an  important  one.  The  cemetery  which  adjoins 
the  present  house  of  worship  is  on  what  was  once 
a  corner  of  his  farm.  Heinrich  Funck,  a  man  of 
considerable  literary  and  general  ability,  was 
chosen  for  the  first  minister,  and  was  afterward 
made  a  bishop.  He  was  also  one  of  the  two  men 
who  were  selected  to  supervise  the  production  of 
an  edition  in  German  of  The  Martyrs’  Mirror. 

The  Bloody  Theatre ,  or  Martyrs’  Mirror , 
which  was  printed  in  the  Dutch  language  about 
1660,  was  a  voluminous  compilation,  made  by 
Thielman  J.  Van  Bracht,  of  accounts  of  Christians 
who  had  been  opposed  to  infant  baptism  and  to 
war  and  who  for  their  convictions  had  suffered 
martyrdom,  from  the  time  of  Christ  up  to  1660. 
When  the  war  between  England  and  France 
occurred  and  there  was  danger  of  its  spread¬ 
ing  to  the  colonies  in  America,  some  of  the 
leaders  of  the  Mennonites  in  Pennsylvania  felt 
that  the  young  men  of  their  faith  ought  to 
have  this  book  in  the  language  that  they  could 
read  it,  in  order  to  prepare  them  to  maintain  at 
any  cost  the  observance  of  their  fundamental 


92 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


doctrine  that  Christians  should  not  engage  in 
war.  That  led  to  measures  being  taken  to  have 
the  book  translated  into  German  and  some 
thirteen  hundred  copies  of  it  printed.  All  the 
work  of  translation,  of  making  the  paper  on  which 
to  print  the  book,  and  of  printing  and  binding 
the  book  was  done  at  the  cloister  of  the  German 
Seventh  Day  Baptists,  at  Ephrata,  in  Lancaster 
County.  The  undertaking  was  completed  in 
1749,  after  a  great  part  of  three  years  of  labor  by 
fifteen  men,  and  it  constituted  one  of  the  few 
great  achievements  in  book-publishing  in  America 
up  to  that  date. 

As  most  of  the  Mennonites  who  came  to 
Pennsylvania  were  farmers,  they  built  their  houses 
of  worship  at  such  places  in  their  communities  as 
they  thought  would  best  suit  their  convenience, 
which  places  were  usually  at  some  distance  from 
the  villages  and  very  frequently  in  groves.  After¬ 
ward,  when  considerable  numbers  of  Mennon¬ 
ites  had  come  to  live  around  and  in  villages  and 
towns,  churches  were  often  built  in  such  centers. 
Those  built  in  recent  years  are  generally  of  red 
brick,  with  a  seating  capacity  of  from  four  to 


THE  MENNONITES 


93 


six  hundred;  but  some  of  the  churches  have 
twice  that  capacity.  The  churches  are  invariably 
austerely  plain,  in  Lancaster  County  being  hardly 
distinguishable  in  outward  appearance  from  some 
tobacco  warehouses.  In  height,  the  churches 
are  either  one  story,  or  one  story  above  a  basement. 
They  have  no  steeples  on  them,  and  no  church 
bells. 

On  the  inside  of  a  typical  Mennonite  church 
the  walls  and  ceiling  are  plastered  and  calcimined. 
There  may  be  a  simple  wainscot,  and  plain  matting 
either  over  the  whole  floor  or  in  the  aisles  only. 
The  windows  are  constructed — with  panes  of 
ordinary  size — of  plain  glass,  and  are  protected 
during  the  week  by  tight,  outside  wooden  shutters 
made  with  panels  and  painted  white.  The  pews 
are  made  of  pine  lumber;  are  generally  varnished, 
though  sometimes  painted;  and  are  without 
cushions.  The  lighting  for  evening  meetings, 
when  there  are  any,  is  with  electricity,  where 
that  can  be  obtained,  otherwise  with  kerosene-oil 
lamps.  The  heating  is  still  frequently  done  with 
stoves,  although  in  the  newer  buildings  it  is 
generally  with  furnaces  in  the  basements.  There 


94 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


are  usually  separate  entrances,  and  separate 
vestibules — for  the  men  and  for  the  women — not 
infrequently  at  both  ends  of  the  building.  Some¬ 
times,  however,  there  are  entrances  on  one  side 
or  on  both  sides  or  at  one  end  and  on  one  side  of 
the  building.  A  porch  at  one  end  or  on  one  side 
of  the  church  is  a  common  thing,  as  in  the  country 
is  also  a  pump  conveniently  near,  out  of  doors. 
On  the  walls  of  the  vestibules  and  very  often  of 
the  main  room,  even  back  of  the  pulpit,  are  clothes 
hooks  on  which  to  hang  wraps — hooks  on  which 
the  men  hang  their  black  hats  and  in  winter 
their  overcoats,  in  their  vestibule  or  vestibules,  or 
on  their  side  of  the  church;  and  hooks  on  which 
the  women  hang  their  black  bonnets  and  their 
shawls  or  cloaks,  in  their  vestibule  or  vestibules, 
or  on  their  side  of  the  church.  Overshoes  and 
umbrellas  are  also  left  in  those  same  places. 
Moreover,  on  the  men’s  side,  in  some  of  the  older 
churches,  long  strips  of  board  about  3  inches  wide 
and  having  on  both  sides  wooden  pegs  or  iron 
pins  or  hooks  about  1 2  inches  apart  are  suspended 
from  the  ceiling  over  the  middle  of  the  rows  of 
pews,  crosswise  of  the  pews  and  about  4  feet 


THE  MENNONITES 


95 


above  them,  or  else  by  supports  they  are  upheld 
over  every  other  pew,  lengthwise  of  the  pews; 
and  on  those  pegs  or  hooks  the  men  commonly 
hang  their  hats,  on  account  of  the  convenience. 

In  the  church,  the  men  and  the  boys  as  a  rule 
sit  on  one  side  of  the  center  aisle,  which  in  some 
cases  is  on  the  right-hand  side  of  it ;  and,  in  others 
on  the  left-hand  side;  while  the  women  and  the 
girls  occupy  the  other  side,  whichever  that  is. 
Young  boys  generally  sit  with  their  fathers,  and 
young  girls  with  their  mothers.  It  is  also  notice¬ 
able  that  infants  form  a  part  of  almost  every 
congregation  and  attract  little  attention  even 
when  they  are  fretful  or  noisy.  Sometimes  their 
fathers  hold  them;  or  a  father  holds  his  little 
girl,  as  does  one  deacon  while  he  sits  in  the 
pulpit. 

The  pulpit  platform,  which  is  at  one  end  of  the 
room,  is  usually  between  two  vestibules,  and  is 
from  two  to  five  steps  high  above  the  floor  of  the 
room,  which  is  level.  The  pulpit  desk  may  be 
either  of  only  ordinary  size,  or  of  io  feet  or  more 
in  length.  In  any  event,  it  is  very  plain,  and 
generally  painted  white.  Back  of  it  are  either 


g6 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


several  plain  chairs,  or,  more  frequently  an 
ordinary  pew  that  in  some  cases  may  have  a 
cushion  on  it — the  only  cushion  in  the  church. 
This  seating  is  for  the  bishop,  ministers,  and 
deacons,  although  a  bishop  may  be  present  only 
now  and  then.  There  is  no  provision  for  instru¬ 
mental  music  of  any  kind,  such  music  being 
excluded  because  the  Mennonites  hold  that  as  a 
part  of  religious  worship  it  has  no  scriptural 
grounds  in  the  New  Testament  dispensation. 
Nor  is  there  any  choir,  but  congregational  singing 
only. 

Where  there  is  a  basement  in  the  church 
building,  a  small  room  or  two  may  be  partitioned 
off  in  it  to  be  used  for  the  primary  class  or  classes 
of  the  Sunday-school,  and  at  other  times  as  a 
place  in  which  to  hang  wraps.  The  remainder  of 
the  basement  is  generally  simply  calcimined, 
but  a  part  of  it  may  nevertheless  be  furnished 
with  plain  tables  and  chairs  to  be  used  for  the 
serving  of  luncheons  or  meals,  or  to  be  used  by 
persons  who  bring  their  own  lunches,  when  there 
are  occasions  for  it,  as  when  there  are  conferences 
or  meetings  of  some  kind  in  both  the  forenoon 


Log  Meeting-House 

Built  by  the  Mennonites,  at  Landisville,  about  1790 


Corner  of  Interior  of  an  Old  Mennonite  Church  in  Montgomery 

County 

Observe  pews,  pulpit,  and  clothes  hooks  on  frame  over  pew  near  the  stove 


4 

i  ' 


'  f  ‘  -r  ... 
/,.'>• -i  ,;V 


THE  MENNONITES 


97 


and  the  afternoon,  or  in  the  afternoon  and  the 
evening. 

When  almost  all  who  went  to  church  did  it 
with  horses  and  buggies,  extensive  horse  sheds 
were  built  of  rough  lumber  to  be  used  as  shelters 
for  the  teams.  Those  sheds,  sometimes  sufficient 
to  hold  nearly  a  hundred  rigs,  are  in  use  yet,  but 
it  is  mainly  for  automobiles,  which  the  farmers 
are  now  generally  using  for  going  to  church. 

Very  few  of  the  Mennonite  churches  have 
preaching  services  twice,  or  even  once,  every 
Sunday.  Most  of  them  have  preaching  once  in 
every  two  weeks,  but  some  of  them  have  it  only 
once  in  four  weeks.  However,  in  many  of  these 
cases  the  dates  are  so  arranged  that,  especially 
by  using  automobiles,  the  members  of  one  church 
can  go  to  another,  as  many  of  them  do,  when 
there  are  no  services  in  their  own  church.  Besides, 
in  some  instances  two  churches  are  maintained, 
with  services  on  alternate  Sundays,  by  one  or¬ 
ganization  and  one  minister  or  occasionally  two 
ministers.  Evening  services  were  long  opposed, 
but  they  are  now  held  in  some  churches,  and, 
like  afternoon  services,  which  are  moderately 


98 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


common,  they  are  sometimes  maintained  in 
alternation  with  morning  services  on  the  other 
Sundays  that  there  are  services. 

A  church  chooses  one  of  its  own  members  to 
be  its  minister,  virtually  for  life.  The  usual 
procedure  is,  first,  to  have  the  members  vote  for, 
or  name,  the  person  or  persons  of  their  choice 
for  the  office.  When  two  or  more  persons  have 
thus  been  nominated,  they  are  required  to  draw 
lots,  following  the  example  furnished  by  Acts 
1:15-26.  For  this  purpose  the  same  number  of 
books — usually  hymnbooks — as  there  are  nominees 
are  taken,  and  in  one  of  the  books  there  is  concealed 
a  slip  of  paper  with  some  writing  on  it  for  identifica¬ 
tion,  after  which  each  nominee  draws  a  book,  and 
the  one  in  whose  book  the  slip  of  paper  is  found 
is  the  one  selected  to  be  the  minister.  Before  the 
drawing  takes  place,  the  bishop  for  the  district 
may  sometimes,  when  it  appears  desirable,  advise 
that  some  name  or  names  be  recalled.  After  a 
minister  has  been  duly  chosen,  he  is  ordained  by 
the  bishop,  in  a  service  held  therefor.  Occasion¬ 
ally  a  large  church  may  have  two  ministers,  or 
possibly  three,  when  they  are  thought  to  be  needed 


THE  MENNONITES 


99 


for  the  work  of  the  church  and  to  render  assistance 
to  other  churches. 

The  ministers  are  not  paid  any  salary,  but 
continue  by  farming  or  through  some  kind  of 
business  to  support  themselves  and  their  families, 
although  when  they  give  an  unusual  amount  of 
their  time  and  labor  to  some  special  cause,  say, 
to  conducting  evangelistic  services  or  to  doing 
missionary  work,  they  may,  if  they  need  it,  be 
aided  financially,  as  also  if  they  fall  into  want. 
Some  of  them  are  men  of  considerable  ability, 
natural  oratorical  power,  general  education,  and 
doctrinal  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,  either  in 
the  English  or  in  the  German  version.  Neither 
collegiate  nor  theological  education  has  been 
possessed  to  any  extent  by  the  ministry  in  south¬ 
eastern  Pennsylvania;  nor  is  either  apparently 
yet  generally  wanted  for  their  ministers  by  the 
churches  as  a  whole,  which  appear  to  be  well 
satisfied  with  plain  men  who  endeavor  to  preach 
plain  biblical  doctrines  in  a  plain  manner.  Occa¬ 
sionally  a  doctrinal  sermon  will  begin  with  Adam 
and  the  fall  of  man,  and  refer  to  passages  or  events 
throughout  both  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 


IOO 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


Nor  have  there  been  many  changes  in  doctrine, 
as  is  evidenced  by  the  statement,  in  The  Mennonite 
Year-Book  and  Directory ,  1923  (published  in  Penn¬ 
sylvania),  of  “What  Mennonites  Believe, accom¬ 
panied  with  scriptural  references  for  every  point. 
This  shows  that  today  they  believe,  among  other 
things,  in  the  plenary  and  verbal  inspiration  of  the 
Bible  as  the  Word  of  God;  that  man  was  created 
pure,  and  by  trangression  fell ;  that  there  will  be  a 
bodily  resurrection  of  the  just  and  of  the  unjust; 
and  that  the  final  judgment  will  be  followed  by 
eternal  rewards  and  punishments.  It  also  shows 
that  the  Mennonites  still  believe,  as  they  have 
practically  always  believed,  that  pouring  is  the 
scriptural  mode  of  Christian  baptism;  that  feet- 
washing  as  a  religious  ceremony  should  be  observed 
literally;  that  Christian  women  should  wear  the  de¬ 
votional  head-covering,  especially  during  worship ; 
that  the  kiss  of  charity  should  be  practiced  among 
believers;  that  mixed  marriages  between  believers 
and  unbelievers  are  unscriptural ;  that  marriages 
with  divorced  persons  whose  former  companions 
are  living  constitute  adultery;  that  it  is  un¬ 
scriptural  for  Christian  people  to  follow  worldly 


THE  MENNONITES 


IOI 


fashions,  engage  in  carnal  warfare,  swear  oaths, 
hold  membership  in  secret  societies,  or  have  their 
lives  insured;  and  that  obstinate  sinners  within 
the  church  should  be  expelled. 

The  Rules  and  Discipline  of  the  Lancaster 
Conference ,  as  revised  and  approved  on  March 
22-23,  I923>  g°  more  into  detail,  for  practical 
application.  They  provide  that  only  a  bishop 
shall  baptize,  except,  in  case  of  sickness,  when  the 
services  of  a  bishop  cannot  be  procured,  a  minister 
may  perform  the  ceremony. 

Before  the  communion  (which  is  usually  held 
in  the  spring  and  in  the  fall),  the  church  shall  be 
examined  to  learn  if  the  members  are  at  peace, 
at  which  time  it  is  customary  to  have  a  sermon 
preached  from  the  eighteenth  chapter  of  Matthew, 
the  requirements  of  which  chapter  must  be 
complied  with  by  members  who  have  grievances 
against  other  members.  Before  the  communion, 
too,  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  should  be  observed. 
The  time  for  the  ceremonial  washing  of  feet  is 
immediately  after  the  communion. 

Concerning  matrimony,  the  rules  are  that  the 
nuptials  shall  be  announced  in  church.  Only  a 


102 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


bishop  shall  solemnize  the  marriage  of  members, 
but  a  minister  may  officiate  for  others.  Members 
who  engage  a  minister  of  some  other  denomination 
in  preference  to  their  own  to  solemnize  their 
marriage  fall  under  censure.  Wedding  marches 
and  flower  girls  are  not  allowed  when  members 
marry.  If  a  member  marries  outside  of  the 
non-conforming  churches,  he  is  barred  from  the 
communion  and  the  council  of  brethren  until  he 
acknowledges  that  he  has  trangressed  the  evangeli¬ 
cal  discipline  of  the  church;  but  he  can  be  re¬ 
instated  by  a  bishop.  A  member  marrying  a 
person  who  had  been  divorced  forfeits  his  member¬ 
ship  in  the  church  as  long  as  the  former  marital 
partner  of  such  person  lives. 

If  members  become  proud  and  vain,  they  fall 
under  censure.  Flowers  are  not  allowed  to  be 
placed  on  the  remains  of  members,  and  it  is 
advised  that  members  do  not  permit  flowers  to 
be  put  on  the  remains  of  any  persons  of  their 
families. 

With  regard  to  worldly  amusements,  the  rule 
laid  down  is  that  excursion  parties,  surprise 
parties,  camping-out  parties  by  unmarried  mem- 


THE  MENNONITES 


103 


bers,  entertainments,  all  public  contests  in  games, 
attending  circuses,  movies,  theaters,  helping  to 
arrange  for  or  attending  festivals,  fairs,  picnics, 
literary  societies,  buying  and  selling  tickets  of 
chance — these,  as  well  as  all  other  amusements  of  a 
similar  character,  are  forbidden. 

Members  are  not  allowed  to  belong  to  any 
secret  society,  to  labor  unions,  to  the  Young 
Men’s  Christian  Association,  to  the  Epworth 
League,  or  to  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society. 
They  are  also  forbidden  to  have  life  or  theft 
insurance.  If  any  member  sues  at  law  he  is  put 
back  from  the  council  of  brethren  and  the  com¬ 
munion  until  he  acknowledges  that  he  has  trans¬ 
gressed  against  the  Gospel.  This  conference  not 
only  does  not  approve  of  members  serving  in  any 
worldly  office  whatever,  but  it  earnestly  advises 
them  to  keep  out  of  those  offices.  For  members 
to  serve  as  jurors  in  trials  for  murder  is  forbidden, 
but  they  are  allowed  to  serve  as  jurors  in  other 
cases,  although  they  are  advised  to  avoid  such 
service  as  much  as  possible. 

The  conference  recommends  that  Sunday- 
schools  be  held;  however  it  does  not  approve  of 


104 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


Sunday-school  libraries,  unless  brethren  authorized 
by  it  would  select  a  library  free  from  fiction. 

The  Lord’s  day  should  be  well  observed.  It 
should  be  made  a  day  of  devotion  and  worship. 
Church  service  and  Sunday-school  should  be 
regularly  attended.  Feasting  and  pleasure-seek¬ 
ing  should  be  strictly  avoided.  Both  old  and 
young  should  be  taught  how  to  keep  the  day  holy, 
and  should  exercise  themselves  constantly  to 
show  reverence  for  God’s  house  and  all  that 
pertains  to  it. 

In  choosing  the  ministry,  which  it  is  believed 
is  ordained  by  votes  and  the  casting  of  lots,  the 
counsel  of  the  church  is  to  be  taken,  and,  if  favor¬ 
able,  then  votes  shall  be  taken.  The  brethren 
who  receive  votes  and  have  the  qualifications  of 
I  Timothy  3:1-13  and  Titus  1:6-9  shall  pass 
through  the  lot.  The  ministry  shall  not  be 
salaried. 

It  is  a  deacon’s  duty  to  distribute  to  the  poor 
members  of  the  church;  to  read  in  the  meeting 
the  text  or  Scripture  for  the  minister,  when 
requested  by  him  to  do  so;  to  read  a  portion  of 
Scripture  and  pray  with  the  congregation  when 


THE  MENNONITES 


105 


no  minister  is  present  in  the  meeting;  and, 
when  enmity  arises  in  the  church,  to  look  after 
it.  But  to  the  bishop  belongs  the  duty,  with  the 
Word  and  the  counsel  of  the  church,  to  excom¬ 
municate  the  disobedient. 

With  these  rules  of  the  Lancaster  Conference 
may  be  compared  the  following  from  the  Rules 
and  Discipline  of  the  Franconia  Conference  of  the 
Mennonite  Church ,  as  revised  in  November,  1921: 

Nothing  new  shall  enter  into  the  church  unless 
it  be  confirmed  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  confer¬ 
ence.  This  conference  feels  the  necessity  of 
urging  the  leaders  of  the  church  to  teach  the  new 
birth,  separation  from  the  world,  nonresistance, 
and  other  essentials  relative  to  the  welfare  of  the 
church;  and  not  to  speculate  on  unfulfilled 
prophecy,  as,  for  example,  on  the  doctrine  of  the 
millennium. 

Members  are  admonished  against  forwardness, 
and  to  be  subject  to  those  who  have  the  rule 
over  them  according  to  Hebrews  13:17.  They 
are  also  admonished  to  wear  the  plain  clothing — 
are  required  to  submit  themselves  to  the  teachings 
of  God’s  Word  according  to  I  Timothy  2:8-9 


io6  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 

and  I  Peter  3 : 3-4.  The  sisters  shall  not  wear 
hats,  fashionable  clothing,  gold  for  adornment. 
They  shall  wear  the  plain  head-covering,  and  use 
the  strings  for  tying;  not  for  ornament.  Parents 
are  to  dress  their  children  as  becometh  their 
faith — not  follow  the  world,  for  example,  in  the 
cutting  of  their  hair,  and  in  the  wearing  of  jewelry. 

The  brethren  are  not  to  get  costly  or  stylish 
automobiles;  nor  to  use  automobiles  for  pleasure, 
knowing  that  they  are  one  of  the  greatest  sources 
of  evil.  Good  judgment  should  be  used  in  running 
them,  lest  “we”  become  a  reproach  to  the  world. — 
Luke  16:15. 

Members  are  not  allowed  to  attend  fairs, 
excursions,  picnics,  surprise  parties,  moving- 
picture  shows,  political  meetings,  parks,  exhibi¬ 
tions,  horse  races,  baby  shows,  and  the  like. 
Neither  are  they  allowed  to  convey  people  to 
places  of  amusement  which  they  themselves  are 
forbidden  to  attend.  Nor  are  members  allowed 
to  belong  to  secret  societies,  labor  unions,  farmers’ 
unions,  or  temperance  unions,  besides  which  they 
are  admonished  to  refrain  from  uniting  and 
working  with  such  associations  as  those  of  breeders, 


THE  MENNONITES 


107 


raisers  of  poultry,  and  producers  of  milk.  The 
carrying  of  life  insurance  is  also  forbidden. 

Members  are  not  to  accept  any  public  office. 
It  is  considered  advisable  to  abstain  from  voting. 

Members  shall  not  use  the  bankruptcy  law. 
They  shall  not  sell  a  mortgage  unless  all  parties 
interested  agree  thereto.  If  a  member  makes  an 
assignment,  and  his  debts  cannot  all  be  paid,  he 
is  to  seek  the  peace  of  the  creditors,  if  possible, 
in  the  presence  of  another  brother,  before  he  can 
take  steps  to  come  back  into  the  church.  If  a 
member  sues  to  recover  a  debt,  he  is  required  to 
taken  another  member  with  him  and  to  seek  the 
peace  of  the  debtor,  if  possible,  before  he  can  take 
steps  to  be  reconciled  to  the  church. 

The  different  congregations  are  admonished  to 
hold  funerals  on  other  days  than  Sunday,  if 
possible.  Flowers  and  other  decorations  are  to  be 
omitted  at  all  funerals  held  in  the  meeting-houses, 
and  members  are  not  to  clothe  their  dead  in  black. 

This  conference  encourages  instruction  in 
singing. 

A  church  belonging  to  the  Franconia  Confer¬ 
ence  has  posted  at  the  entrance  to  the  church 


io8 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


cemetery  a  printed  notice  that  “  flowering  and 
shrubbing  plants  or  vines  are  not  allowed  to  be 
placed  on  the  graves  or  lots  in  this  cemetery. 
By  order  of  the  trustees.” 

The  Mennonite  General  Conference,  which 
was  held  in  1898,  passed  a  resolution  stating  that 
the  sin  of  worldliness  whether  it  be  made  manifest 
in  the  wearing  of  fashionable  clothing;  light, 
frivolous  talking;  attending  places  of  worldly 
amusements ;  building  fashionable  houses  and 
furnishing  them  fashionably;  or  following  a 
questionable  business  should  be  frequently  pointed 
out  and  reproved  from  the  pulpit. 

A  report  of  a  committee  of  seven  (on  dress), 
that  was  adopted  by  the  General  Conference  in 
1913,  urged  the  brethren  to  wear  the  kind  of 
clothing  approved  by  the  church,  avoiding  all 
things  forbidden  or  testified  against  in  the  Scrip¬ 
tures;  to  hold  aloof  from  worldly  fashions  as 
manifested  in  changing  styles  in  the  shape  and 
texture  of  hats,  collars,  coats,  and  other  articles 
of  apparel;  and  to  hold  aloof  especially  from  such 
things  as  are  manifestly  worn  for  bodily  orna¬ 
mentation  or  because  they  are  in  style.  For  the 


Mennonite  Churches 

No.  r,  Franconia;  2,  Line  Lexington;  3,  Worcester  or  Methacton; 
4,  Millwood;  5,  Mellinger’s;  6,  Strasburg.  Nos.  1  and  3  are  in  Mont¬ 
gomery  County;  No.  2  is  in  Bucks  County;  Nos.  4,  5,  6  are  in  Lancaster 
County.  No.  4  is  Amish  Mennonite;  5  is  a  typical  modern  brick  Men¬ 
nonite  church;  6  is  a  stone  church  built  in  1804. 


THE  MENNONITES 


109 


sisters  the  recommendations  were  made  that  they 
should  be  attired  as  “  women  professing  godliness,” 
with  hair  combed  modestly  so  that  the  devotional 
head-covering  might  be  worn  with  decency  and 
order;  and  that  they  should  avoid  all  styles 
indicating  immodesty,  low-necked  dresses,  short 
sleeves,  gay  colors,  fabrics  insufficient  to  cover 
the  body  properly,  hobble  or  slit  skirts,  and  any 
form  of  bonnet  that  indicated  that  it  was  worn  for 
display  rather  than  for  service. 

The  local  conference  to  which  the  churches  in 
Franklin  County  belong  has  mentioned,  as  objec¬ 
tionable,  creased  hats;  long,  flashy-colored  neck¬ 
ties;  small  bonnets,  and  small  prayer  head- 
coverings. 

But  not  all  members  of  the  church  try  to 
observe  literally  all  the  admonitions  and  restric¬ 
tions  that  are  formulated;  and  some  of  these  are 
either  being  slowly  modified  from  time  to  time,  or 
not  rigidly  enforced  in  one  locality  or  another.  A 
good  illustration  of  a  changing  attitude  is  to  be 
seen  with  reference  to  education.  For  example, 
the  principal  editorial  in  the  Youth's  Christian 
Companion  of  August  19,  1923,  a  Mennonite 


no 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


publication  in  Pennsylvania,  emphasizes  the  value 
of  education,  with  the  conclusion  that: 

There  are  many  reasons  why,  when  it  is  at  all  possible, 
at  least  a  high  school  education  should  be  gotten.  But, 
where  there  is  the  chance,  by  all  means  get  a  college 
education;  but  get  it  in  an  institution  where  the  instructors 
are  not  of  the  type  to  undermine  the  Word  of  God. 

The  deacons  for  the  Mennonite  churches  are 
chosen  and  ordained  in  practically  the  same 
manner  as  the  ministers  are,  and  likewise  for 
life.  Most  churches  have  one  deacon  each,  but 
there  are  churches  that  have  two  deacons,  while 
in  some  instances  there  is  but  one  deacon  for  two 
churches,  as  where  the  churches  are  conducted 
conjointly. 

The  bishop  for  a  district  is  chosen  in  much 
the  same  manner  as  a  minister  is  chosen,  and  for 
life.  As  a  rule,  he  is  chosen  from  the  ministers 
of  the  district.  His  ordination  is  by  a  bishop 
from  some  other  district.  Bishops,  ministers,  and 
deacons  do  not  dress  in  any  particular  respect 
different  from  other  men  in  the  church  who 
endeavor  to  conform  to  what  has  been  sanc¬ 
tioned  and  become  customary.  That  calls  for 


THE  MENNONITES 


hi 


black  or  nearly  black  suits,  with  vests  and 
medium-length  coats  both  cut  high  in  the  neck, 
the  coats  having  standing  military  or  clerical 
collars  about  three-quarters  of  an  inch  in  height, 
but  no  buttons  for  show  on  the  sleeves  or  on 
the  back  near  the  waist.  White  collars,  fre¬ 
quently  of  celluloid,  are  attached  to  the  shirts, 
commonly  with  the  plainest  of  bone  collar  buttons, 
which  are  generally  noticeable  because  the  more 
conservative  men  do  not  wear  neckties,  although 
some  others,  especially  of  the  younger  generation, 
wear  them,  particularly  in  the  form  of  small, 
plain  black  bows.  The  hats  in  general  are  of 
black  felt,  and  just  stiff  enough  to  hold  their 
shape,  which  is  with  flat,  round-edged  crowns  of 
medium  height,  and  with  brims  about  2\  inches 
wide,  sometimes  turned  up  a  little  at  the  edge. 
Of  straw  hats  almost  any  style  of  plain  ones  may 
be  worn  in  the  summer;  and  there  is  an  increasing 
tendency  to  wear  coats  and  vests  of  the  ordinary 
pattern.  But  a  striking  illustration  of  general 
indifference  to  conventionalities  was  recently 
furnished  when,  during  a  preaching  service  on  a 
sultry  Sunday  afternoon,  three  of  the  occupants 


1 1 2 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


of  the  pulpit  and  many  of  the  men  in  the  congrega¬ 
tion  took  off  their  coats,  and,  not  having  on  any 
vests,  displayed  a  variety  of  colored  negligee 
shirts  and  the  general  use  of  suspenders.  Most 
of  the  men  are  smooth  shaven. 

The  garb  of  the  women,  like  that  of  the  men, 
is  conspicuously  plain  and  follows  with  remarkable 
closeness  styles  that  have  been  long  established. 
For  their  dresses,  the  women  confine  themselves 
mainly  to  plain  goods  and  to  simple  colors,  black 
predominating  for  the  older  women.  But  dresses 
of  purple,  blue,  green,  brown,  gray,  and  of  other 
colors  are  to  be  seen.  The  dresses  are  of  plain 
cut  and  make,  with  high  necks,  long  sleeves,  and 
skirts  of  good  length.  Over  their  shoulders  the 
women  wear  capes  made  of  the  same  materials 
as  their  dresses,  the  capes  coming  to  more  or  less 
of  points  at  the  waist,  both  in  front  and  behind. 
Narrow  ruching  is  sometimes  worn  in  the  necks 
of  the  dresses.  But  the  most  striking  feature  of 
all  is  the  headdress.  White  caps  made  of  lawn 
and  commonly  called  devotional  coverings  or 
prayer  head-coverings,  which  are  believed  to  be 
required  by  I  Corinthians  11:2-16,  are  worn  by 


THE  MENNONITES 


ii3 

most  of  the  women  all  through  the  week,  but  by 
some  women  only  when  they  go  to  church.  Over 
them  bonnets  are  worn  outdoors — perhaps  com¬ 
mon  sunbonnets  around  home,  but  black  bonnets 
elsewhere.  The  women  are  especially  admonished 
to  avoid  vain  display  in  ornamentation,  such  as 
the  wearing  of  jewelry  and  costly  clothing  and 
the  “ fussing”  of  the  hair.  The  wearing  of  gold 
rings  is  sometimes  particularly  inveighed  against, 
whereas  the  wearing  of  gold-framed  spectacles 
appears  to  be  considered  all  right. 

The  children  are  generally  plainly  and  sensibly, 
but  not  distinctively,  dressed.  Yet  little  girls 
are  sometimes  seen,  even  in  some  of  the  churches, 
with  their  hair  tied  with  large  bows  of  wide, 
brightly  colored  ribbons. 

Musical  instruments,  such  as  pianos  and  organs, 
are  now  to  be  found  in  some  homes.  Daily 
devotional  exercises  are  maintained  in  some 
families,  as  family  worship,  but  more  often  each 
individual  is  left  to  hold  such  devotions  in  private 
as  he  may  think  best.  Again,  the  heads  of  some 
families  audibly  ask  blessings  at  the  table,  although 
it  is  a  more  common  practice  to  have  a  silent 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


1 14 

pause  before  the  meal,  or  such  a  pause  before  the 
meal  and  a  like  pause  after  it,  for  each  person 
for  himself  silently  to  ask  a  blessing  and  return 
thanks. 

What,  with  some  variations,  may  be  considered 
the  present  regular  order  of  church  services  is  the 
singing  of  a  hymn;  the  reading  of  a  portion  of 
Scripture,  sometimes  with  comments  thereon; 
silent  prayer,  with  all  persons  kneeling  at  the 
seats  on  which  they  have  been  sitting;  the  singing 
of  another  hymn;  a  sermon  of  possibly  three- 
quarters  of  an  hour  in  duration;  a  few  words 
added,  while  remaining  seated,  by  each  of  the 
other  occupants  of  the  pulpit  than  the  preacher; 
prayer  by  the  preacher,  which  he  closes  with  the 
recital,  by  him  alone,  of  the  Lord’s  Prayer — all 
kneeling  during  the  prayer,  the  singing  of  a  hymn, 
announcements,  and  the  benediction.  However, 
the  announcements  may  come  after  the  benedic¬ 
tion. 

When  a  church  is  filled,  on  one  side  with  men 
and  boys,  and  on  the  other  side  with  women  and 
girls,  all  plainly  clothed  and  apparently  attentive 
to  the  service,  the  women  with  their  bonnets  off 


THE  MENNONTTES 


ii5 

\ 

and  their  heads  all  alike  covered  with  their  fresh 
white  caps,  and  the  girls,  who  are  not  yet  members 
of  the  church,  with  their  hats  removed,  the 
devotional  spirit  seems  to  be  intensified. 

There  is  no  renting  of  pews,  and  there  are  no 
ushers.  Nor  are  collections  taken  at  every  service, 
but  only  from  time  to  time  to  cover  church 
expenses,  or  for  special  purposes.  However, 
there  are  nearly  always  boxes  that  have  above 
them  the  words:  “The  Lord  loveth  a  cheerful 
giver”;  yet  these  boxes  are  apparently  little  used, 
except  sometimes  to  receive  such  contributions 
as  are  requested.  Still,  at  least  one  important 
church  has  commenced  taking  collections  regularly, 
and  using  small  envelopes  for  them.  Another 
church  asked  its  members  to  pay  twenty-five 
cents  for  every  thousand  dollars  that  they  con¬ 
sidered  themselves  worth  financially,  the  amount 
so  raised  to  be  used  for  church  maintenance  for 
1923,  and  called  for  a  like  sum  for  the  poor  fund 
for  the  year. 

All  services  are  now,  as  a  general  thing,  in 
English,  although  a  few  churches  may  quite 
regularly  have  a  part  of  their  services  in  German, 


n6 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


and  occasionally  a  service  entirely  in  German, 
it  sometimes  depending  much  on  the  language 
with  which  the  preacher  is  the  more  familiar. 
The  hymnal  most  frequently  used  is  composed 
chiefly  of  selections  from  the  common  devotional 
hymns  in  English,  with  the  addition,  in  a  supple¬ 
ment  at  the  back  of  the  book,  of  a  few  old  favorites 
in  German.  By  the  side  of  this  hymnal,  however, 
there  may  still  be  seen  in  some  of  the  churches 
copies  of  Die  kleine  geistliche  Harfe ,  which  has 
gone  through  many  editions,  and  long  been  used 
by  the  Mennonites. 

An  example  of  a  combined  German  and  English 
service  with  a  somewhat  unusual  feature  for  these 
times  was  furnished  not  long  ago  by  a  service 
that  was  begun  by  the  congregation  singing  an 
English  hymn,  after  which  a  German  hymn  was 
lined  in  the  old  way,  that  is,  one  line  or  sentence 
at  a  time  was  read  from  the  pulpit  and  then  imme¬ 
diately  sung  by  the  congregation.  Following  that, 
another  German  hymn  was  sung  without  lining. 
A  chapter  was  read  from  the  German  Bible. 
The  congregation  knelt  in  silent  prayer.  An 
elderly  minister  (from  another  place)  preached 


THE  MENNONITES 


117 

for  about  half  an  hour  in  German.  A  younger 
minister  followed  with  a  fifteen-minute  sermon 
in  English.  Each  of  the  other  occupants  of  the 
pulpit  added  a  few  words,  either  in  German  or 
in  English,  remaining  seated  while  doing  so. 
Next  there  was  a  prayer,  in  German,  and  after 
it  the  singing  of  a  hymn,  in  English.  Then  came 
the  benediction,  in  English,  and  after  it  the 
announcements  were  made  in  German.  That  was 
at  Franconia,  where  the  German  language  is  still 
being  used  considerably  in  the  meetings. 

The  communion  is  celebrated  after  a  sermon 
appropriate  to  the  occasion  has  been  preached, 
generally  by  the  bishop.  In  some  churches  in 
Lancaster  County  the  men  in  one  pew  after  another 
rise  and  go  to  the  place  where  the  bishop  has  taken 
his  stand  in  front  of  the  pulpit,  each  man  in  passing 
before  the  bishop  receiving  from  him  a  bit  of 
bread  broken  from  a  long  slice,  after  which  the 
man  returns  to  his  pew.  The  women  then  go 
through  the  same  procedure.  Afterward  the 
men,  and,  following  them  the  women,  receive 
the  wine  in  a  silver  cup,  as  they  pass  again  before 
the  bishop.  Through  a  portion  of  the  service 


n8  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 

the  bishop  recounts  the  significance  of  this 
memorial  and  the  command  to  observe  it,  and 
during  the  remainder  of  the  service  the  congrega¬ 
tion  sings  appropriate  hymns.  In  other  churches 
the  bishop  passes  the  elements  to  the  members, 
who  remain  in  their  seats,  but  who  arise  one  by 
one  to  receive  the  bread  and  the  wine.  Participa¬ 
tion  in  the  communion  is,  as  a  rule,  restricted 
to  the  members  of  each  individual  congregation. 

On  some  Sunday  preceding  that  of  the  com¬ 
munion  there  may  be  baptisms  by  the  bishop, 
after  a  sermon  usually  somewhat  doctrinal  has 
been  preached.  Those  who  are  to  be  baptized 
kneel  in  front  of  the  pulpit,  facing  it;  the  men  and 
the  boys  on  one  side,  and  the  women  and  the  girls 
on  the  other,  even  when  there  are  married  couples 
among  them.  The  women  and  the  girls  wear 
the  devotional  head-coverings  or  white  caps, 
which  one  of  the  women  of  the  church  removes, 
before  the  baptismal  water  is  poured,  and  replaces 
after  the  deacon  has  poured  a  little  water  three 
times  through,  or  between,  the  hands  of  the 
bishop  while  they  are  placed  on  the  candidate’s 
head  and  while  the  bishop  speaks  the  words  of 


THE  MENNONITES 


119 

baptism.  The  baptism  is  preceded  by  the  bishop 
asking  several  test  questions,  and  is  followed  with 
a  prayer  offered  by  him.  The  ceremony  is  con¬ 
cluded  by  his  extending  his  hand  to  each  one 
baptized  and  bidding  him  or  her  to  arise  to  a 
newness  of  life;  and  when  a  man  or  a  boy  has 
risen,  kissing  him.  The  women  and  the  girls 
are  kissed  by  one  or  two  women  members  of  the 
church. 

All  kissing  that  is  done  under  the  scriptural 
mandate  is  done  between  men  and  men,  or 
between  women  and  women,  and  never  between 
men  and  women.  Moreover,  except  between 
officials  of  the  church,  kissing  does  not  appear 
to  be  practiced  much  at  the  present  time  among 
the  men;  and,  when  kissing  is  done,  it  is  generally 
done  by  touching  the  lips  to  the  cheek  adjacent 
to  the  corner  of  the  mouth. 

The  washing  of  feet  after  the  communion 
service  is  also  solemnly  and  decorously  performed. 
In  some  instances  a  number  of  small  tubs  with 
water  in  them  are  brought  into  the  church  and 
placed  between  the  pulpit  and  the  front  row  of 
pews,  each  tub  between  two  chairs.  Those  who 


120 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


are  to  participate  in  the  ceremony  quietly  slip 
off  their  shoes  and  stockings  before  leaving  their 
pews,  and  then  go  forward  in  small  numbers, 
the  women  to  the  tubs  on  their  side  of  the  church, 
and  the  men  to  those  on  their  side,  and  seat 
themselves  in  the  chairs  so  that  there  are  two 
women  at  each  tub  on  their  side  of  the  church, 
and  two  men  at  each  tub  on  the  men’s  side. 
Then  one  member  of  each  pair  at  a  tub  washes 
the  feet  of  the  other,  and  wipes  them  with  a  towel, 
after  which  the  one  thus  ministered  to  reciprocates 
it  with  a  similar  service.  When  this  has  been 
done,  they  arise,  kiss  each  other,  and  return  to 
their  pews,  whence  some  may  go  to  their  vestibules 
to  put  on  their  shoes  and  stockings.  As  the 
seats  at  the  tubs  are  vacated,  other  members  go 
forward  to  occupy  them,  which  is  continued 
until  all  have  had  a  chance  to  follow  in  this  way 
the  example  and  what  is  regarded  as  being  an 
enduring  command  of  the  Master.  However, 
this  ordinance  is  not  observed  at  the  present  time 
in  all  the  churches. 

The  Mennonites  were  somewhat  slow  about 
starting  Sunday-schools;  but  now  almost  every 


THE  MENNONITES 


1 2 1 


church  has  a  good  Sunday-school,  with  a  com¬ 
paratively  large  attendance  of  all  ages  from  the 
very  young  to  the  quite  old.  They  are  conducted 
in  English,  but  some  of  them  have  classes  in 
German  for  adults.  They  do  not  have  festivals, 
picnics,  excursions,  rally  days,  nor  anything  of 
that  sort.  The  schools  are  often  held  every 
Sunday,  even  when  preaching  services  are  not. 
Some  churches  have  also  young  people’s  meetings, 
and  occasionally  conferences  for  the  study  of 
the  Bible.  Besides,  considerable  interest  is  being 
taken  in  missionary  work  at  home  and  abroad, 
and  in  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of 
benevolent  institutions. 

While  the  church  polity  has  always  been 
strongly  congregational,  there  has  at  the  same 
time  been  a  general  disposition  to  conform  to 
the  decisions  of  the  proper  conferences,  and  the 
regular  conferences  now  maintained  furnish 
agencies  through  which  the  churches  may  co¬ 
operate  in  conducting  missionary  and  charitable 
enterprises,  as  well  as  foster  denominational 
institutions  for  higher  education  and  provide 
publishing  houses  for  the  production  of  needed 


122 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


literature — things  for  which  there  is  a  growing 
appreciation.  However,  the  inherent  spirit  of 
religious  independence  and  Congregationalism  go 
far  toward  explaining  why,  notwithstanding  that 
the  Mennonites  are  naturally  conservative  and 
have  maintained  their  fundamental  doctrines 
with  comparatively  few  changes,  there  have  still 
sometimes  been  differences  in  views  and  practices 
in  different  localities,  and  why  there  have  been 
some  schisms. 

The  first  great  schism  was  brought  about  by 
Jacob  Ammann,  or  Amen,  who,  in  Switzerland 
near  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  urged 
the  enforcement,  through  rigid  discipline,  of  a 
stricter  observance  of  the  ban  and  avoidance,  and 
of  the  washing  of  feet,  than  was  commonly  being 
practiced.  Adherents  to  his  views  are  called 
“  Amish.”  Some  of  them  began  settling  in 
Lancaster  County  in  the  second  decade  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  They  are  now  popularly 
divided  into  two  classes;  one  of  which  is  called 
the  “Old  Order  Amish”;  and  the  other,  “Amish 
Mennonites,”  or  “Progressive  Amish.”  Some¬ 
times  the  Old  Order  Amish  are  called  “House 


Farm  Buildings  of  an  Amish  Mennonite  in  Lancaster 

County 


An  Old  Springhouse  in  Montgomery  County 


THE  MENNONITES 


123 


Amish/’  because  they  do  not  build  churches,  but 
have  their  preaching  services,  which  are  still 
either  in  German  or  in  Pennsylvania  German,  first 
in  the  house  of  one  member,  and  then  in  that  of 
another,  a  dinner  for  all  being  furnished  by  the 
family  at  whose  house  the  meeting  is  held.  The 
Amish  Mennonites,  on  the  other  hand,  build 
churches,  and  have  Sunday-schools  (which  the 
Old  Order  Amish  do  not  have),  and  are  occasion¬ 
ally  designated  “  Church  Amish.”  Their  church 
services  are  largely  in  English,  but  sometimes 
wholly,  or  partly,  in  German. 

As  a  class,  the  Amish  confine  themselves  to 
farming,  and  are  very  successful  therein.  The 
Old  Order  Amish  are  particularly  conservative — in 
their  dress;  in  the  furnishing  of  their  houses, 
which  is  very  plain,  without  carpets  and  without 
curtains ;  and  in  adopting  new  things  which  might 
show  too  much  of  a  worldly  spirit,  such  as  auto¬ 
mobiles  and  having  telephones  in  their  houses. 
The  men  wear  a  sort  of  jacket,  rather  than  a  coat, 
and  because  they  have  hooks  and  eyes,  instead  of 
buttons,  to  fasten  their  jackets  and  their  vests, 
they  are  at  times  referred  to  as  “  hook-and-eye 


124 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


people,”  or  as  “ hookers.”  Buttons,  however, 
may  frequently  be  seen  on  their  shirts,  sweaters, 
and  overcoats,  which  last  are  generally  made  with 
capes.  Another  peculiarity  of  the  men  is  that, 
while  they  shave  their  upper  lips,  or  shave  around 
their  mouths  and  sometimes  a  considerable  portion 
of  their  cheeks,  yet,  for  the  purpose  of  conforming 
to  Leviticus  19:27,  21:5,  they  wear  either  short 
or  medium-length  beards  and  what  is  known  as 
blocked,  instead  of  shingled,  hair.  The  Amish 
women  dress  much  like  other  Mennonite  women, 
except  that  the  Amish  women  generally  wear 
black  shoulder-capes,  whatever  may  be  the  color 
of  their  dresses,  and  also  generally  wear  large 
black  aprons. 

Among  the  Progressive  Amish,  some  of  the 
men  wear  beards  and  garb  of  the  same  style  as 
the  Old  Order  Amish,  while  others  are  smooth 
shaven  and  wear  the  common  style  of  clothes. 
Many  of  them,  too,  have  automobiles  and  tele¬ 
phones.  The  women  dress  about  as  Mennonite 
women  generally  do,  while  the  girls  of  all  ages 
wear  white  caps  or  head-coverings  in  Sunday- 
school  and  church. 


THE  MENNONITES 


125 


Much  like  the  early  Amish  in  regarding  the 
Mennonites  generally  as  not  strict  enough  in  the 
maintenance  of  some  of  their  articles  of  faith, 
and  perhaps  today  more  strict  in  enforcing  the 
observance  of  those  articles  than  are  the  Old 
Order  Amish,  are  the  Reformed  Mennonites,  who 
were  organized  in  Lancaster  County  in  1821,  and 
are  sometimes  called  “Herrites,”  or,  at  other  times, 
“New  Mennonites.” 

Other  schisms  have  for  various  reasons  occurred 
at  one  time  or  another,  as,  for  instance,  because 
there  were  men  who  wanted  to  pursue  a  more 
progressive  policy  of  some  form  or  other  than  the 
rest  would  permit,  or  because  there  were  some 
Mennonites  who  had  come  to  believe  that  baptism 
should  be  by  immersion. 

In  order  to  distinguish  from  all  others  those 
who  are  properly  called  simply  Mennonites,  the 
latter  are  now  frequently  termed  “Old  Mennon¬ 
ites. Their  number  at  the  present  time  in 
the  United  States  and  Canada  is  given  as  36,667, 
whereas  the  total  number  in  the  United  States 
of  what  are  classed  as  Mennonite  bodies  is  placed 
at  91,603. 


126 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


From  the  subjects  of  both  religion  and  educa¬ 
tion  the  attention  may  be  profitably  turned  to  a 
consideration  of  the  nature  of  the  proverbs  and 
superstition  of  the  Pennsylvania  Germans,  as 
being  somewhat  indicative  of  the  frame  of  mind 
and  credulity  of  past  generations  especially. 


CHAPTER  VII 


PROVERBS  AND  SUPERSTITIONS 

Proverbs  have  been  defined  as  being  old  and 
common  sayings.  These  are  not  all  embodiments 
of  universal  truths  and  wisdom,  but  are  often 
only  expressions  of  general  opinions,  and  fre¬ 
quently  of  general  superstitious  beliefs.  They 
have  their  origin  in  keen  observations,  in  common 
experiences,  and  in  erroneous  deductions,  which 
are  finally  crystallized  into  pithy  phrasing.  In  all 
their  forms  they  are  worthy  of  study  as  somewhat 
illustrative  of  the  mental  development  and  the 
dominant  principles  of  the  people  making  or 
using  them. 

Many  of  the  proverbs  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Germans,  both  of  those  fundamentally  true  and 
of  those  expressive  of  superstitions,  were  brought 
from  the  fatherland,  and  vary  somewhat  in  differ¬ 
ent  localities,  due  to  the  fact  that  these  were 
settled  by  people  from  different  places.  Some  of 
the  proverbs  were  originally  in  German,  while 


127 


128 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


others  were  in  one  dialect  or  another,  but  nearly 
all  of  them  were  finally  given  a  Pennsylvania- 
German  wording.  A  few  of  them  were  rather 
coarse. 

One  proverb  particularly  characteristic  of  the 
people  may  be  translated:  “ Don’t  hurry;  work 
steadily.”  Another  describes  idleness  as  the 
devihs  resting-place.  A  third  says:  “  Work  faith¬ 
fully;  laziness  is  worse  than  a  pestilence.”  There 
are  other  proverbs  just  as  graphic  and  equally 
practical : 

Morning  hours  hold  gold. 

The  man  who  feeds  his  cows  well  churns  much  butter. 

Earning  and  saving  together  produce  the  surest  wealth. 

A  diligent  housewife  is  the  best  savings-box. 

One  gets  nothing  without  some  trouble. 

The  middle  course  is  the  best  way. 

As  one  makes;  so  has  he. 

If  one  can  get  over  the  dog,  he  can  get  over  the  tail. 

Who  will  not  hear,  must  feel. 

A  rough  block  requires  a  rough  wedge. 

Size  alone  is  not  enough,  else  a  cow  could  catch  a 
rabbit. 

He  who  would  support  himself  by  hunting  and  fishing 
must  wear  torn  clothes. 

Too  little  or  too  much  spoils  all  enjoyment. 


PROVERBS  AND  SUPERSTITIONS  129 


When  the  mice  are  glutted,  the  meal  is  bitter. 

A  person  should  stretch  himself  according  to  his  cover. 

He  who  does  not  come  in  time  must  take  what  is  left. 

Everyone  must  carry  his  own  hides  to  the  tanner. 

What  one  does  not  keep  in  his  head,  he  must  make 
up  for  with  his  feet. 

He  who  digs  a  pit  for  another  will  himself  fall  into  it. 

One  must  live,  and  let  live. 

It  is  better  to  do  a  little  than  to  do  nothing. 

Where  there  is  smoke  there  is  also  fire. 

When  a  dog  is  hit,  it  yelps. 

A  blind  hog  sometimes  finds  an  acorn. 

A  man  who  can  build  a  good  fire  will  make  a  good 
husband. 

A  woman  who  cuts  thick  slices  of  bread  will  make  a 
good  stepmother. 

Who  halts  not,  wins. 

But  such  proverbs  as  the  foregoing  are  greatly 
exceeded  in  number  by  those  which  express 
beliefs  savoring  of  superstition.  The  latter  cover 
a  wide  range  of  subjects,  touching  human  life 
and  its  activities  at  many  points,  from  birth  to 
death.  Some  examples  will  sufficiently  indicate 
the  scope  and  character  of  all. 

A  child  born  on  Sunday  will  develop  pride.  One  born 
on  the  thirteenth  of  the  month  will  have  no  luck.  One 


130 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


born  in  the  zodiacal  sign  of  the  Lion  will  grow  up  strong. 
One  born  in  the  sign  of  the  Fishes  will  be  a  drinker,  or 
always  thirsty. 

For  a  person  to  step  over  a  child  that  is  lying  down 
will  retard  its  growth,  as  will  also  measuring  the  child. 

Whatever  one  dreams  the  first  time  that  he  sleeps  in  a 
place  will  come  true. 

Bubbles  on  a  cup  of  coffee  denote  money. 

If  the  palm  of  the  hand  itches  it  will  soon  receive 
money. 

A  person  who  wears  round  holes  in  the  soles  of  his 
shoes  will  become  rich,  while  one  who  wears  holes  in  the 
seat  of  his  trousers  will  be  poor. 

If  one  gets  out  of  bed  backward  things  will  go  wrong 
for  him  all  day. 

For  one  to  forget  what  he  was  going  to  say  is  a  sign 
that  it  was  not  true. 

When  a  person’s  left  ear  burns  it  indicates  that  some¬ 
one  is  speaking  ill  of  him,  but  when  his  right  ear  burns  it 
signifies  that  someone  is  speaking  well  of  him. 

When  two  persons  are  walking  together,  anyone  who 
walks  between  them  will  take  away  their  luck. 

For  the  cat  to  wash  herself,  or  for  the  dog  to  roll  on 
the  floor  is  a  sign  that  visitors  will  come. 

If  one  goes  into  a  house,  he  should  sit  down,  else  he 
will  take  away  its  peace. 

Good  luck  is  taken  from  a  house  when  a  stranger 
enters  it  by  one  door  and  leaves  it  by  another. 


PROVERBS  AND  SUPERSTITIONS 


*3* 

After  a  person  has  once  started  from  a  place  it  is 
unlucky  for  him  to  return  to  it  on  account  of  his  having 
forgotten  something. 

When  the  youngest  in  a  family  gets  married  those  who 
are  not  married  must  either  ride  on  the  bake-oven  or 
dance  in  a  pig’s  trough.  To  insure  good  luck,  one  who 
gets  married  must  jump  over  a  broomstick. 

In  order  to  learn  anything  easily  from  a  book,  one 
should  put  the  book  under  his  pillow  when  he  goes  to  bed. 

Picking  up  a  pin,  or  falling  uphill,  either  one  brings 
good  luck. 

To  prevent  a  quarrel  after  salt  has  been  spilled,  some 
of  the  salt  should  be  burned. 

A  person  should  never  make  a  present  of  a  pin,  of  a 
knife,  or  of  a  pair  of  scissors;  nor  hand  to  another  person 
anything  of  that  sort  with  its  point  toward  the  person  to 
whom  handed,  lest  it  injure  or  sever  friendship. 

Some  of  these  superstitious  beliefs  were  not 
only  at  one  time  or  another  current  everywhere 
among  the  Pennsylvania  Germans,  but  are  similar 
to  old  sayings  of  other  people.  On  the  other  hand, 
some  omens  meant  one  thing  to  the  Pennsylvania 
Germans  in  one  locality,  and  either  the  opposite 
or  a  different  thing  to  those  of  another  community. 
Thus  some  people  would  say  that  to  dream  of  a 
funeral  portended  a  wedding,  while  it  was  more 


132 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


generally  believed  to  be  a  sign  of  rain  or  of  high 
water.  Again,  some  declared  that  when  a  person’s 
nose  itched  it  was  a  sign  that  he  would  receive  a 
letter,  whereas  others  insisted  that  it  was  a  sign 
of  an  impending  quarrel.  By  some  people  the 
finding  of  a  five-leaved  clover  was  believed  to 
bring  good  luck,  but  by  others  it  was  regarded  as 
the  forerunner  of  bad  luck.  There  was  a  similar 
contradiction  as  to  the  effect  of  meeting  a  black 
cat.  At  least  half-a-dozen  different  ills,  according 
to  beliefs  held  in  different  localities,  would  befall 
anyone  who,  while  he  had  it  on,  let  a  garment  be 
in  any  way  sewed  or  mended  by  another  person, 
as  that  the  latter  would  sew  the  wearer’s  good 
luck  away,  would  sew  in  the  wearer’s  thoughts, 
would  sew  on  trouble,  would  sew  in  a  pain  with 
each  stitch,  or  the  wearer  would  acquire  an 
enemy,  or  somebody  would  lie  about  him.  Simi¬ 
larly,  there  were  several  different  beliefs  as  to 
why  the  back  of  a  man’s  shirt  should  not  be  ironed, 
as  that  to  iron  it  would  make  him  lazy,  or  irritable, 
or  would  cause  boils. 

In  planning  and  in  doing  his  work,  the  farmer 
took  into  account  the  phases  of  the  moon  and  the 


PROVERBS  AND  SUPERSTITIONS 


133 


signs  of  the  zodiac  as  he  found  the  latter  in  the 
almanac  opposite  the  days  of  the  month.  He  was 
also  heedful  of  many  things  expressed  in  proverbs 
concerning  the  weather.  He  said  that  when 
wild  geese  fly  high,  the  weather  will  be  warm; 
when  low,  cold.  When  corn  husks  are  thick,  the 
following  winter  will  be  a  hard  one;  but  when  the 
corn  grows  beyond  the  husks,  the  winter  will  be 
mild.  A  hot  summer  portends  a  cold  winter. 
In  proportion  to  the  height  at  which  the  spiders 
build  their  webs  in  August  will  be  the  depth  of 
snow  the  coming  winter.  A  dry  April  and  a  wet 
May  are  favorable  for  a  large  crop  of  hay.  When 
the  horns  of  the  moon  point  downward  there  will 
be  rain.  Likewise,  when  the  sun  draws  water, 
that  is,  when  the  sun’s  rays  are  visible  in  the 
clouds;  when  corns  ache;  when  a  cat  or  a  dog 
eats  grass;  and  when  roosters  sit  on  a  fence — rain 
must  be  expected.  If  the  sun  sets  under  a  cloud 
on  Wednesday,  rain  will  follow  before  Sunday. 
A  ring  around  the  moon  betokens  rain  or  snow. 
If  chickens  run  for  shelter  when  it  commences  to 
rain,  the  rain  will  not  last  long;  but,  if  they  run 
around  in  the  rain,  there  will  be  more  rain. 


134 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


It  was  also  prevalently  believed  that  everything 
planted  in  the  Lion,  or  sign  of  Leo,  would  grow 
well.  Flowers  should  be  planted  in  the  sign  of  the 
Virgin,  or,  as  it  was  sometimes  said,  in  the  sign 
of  the  Posey  Woman.  Potatoes  should  be  planted 
during  the  increase  of  the  moon,  and  in  the  sign 
of  the  Lion.  Climbers,  such  as  beans  and  peas, 
should  be  planted  when  the  horns  of  the  moon 
pointed  upward;  and  not  when  the  moon  was 
waning.  Nothing  should  be  sowed  in  the  Water¬ 
man,  or  sign  of  Aquarius,  or  it  would  be  watery. 
Fruit  trees  would  bear  better  after  being  wished  a 
“Happy  New  Year.”  Beets  would  be  stringy  if 
harvested  under  the  wrong  sign,  and  sauerkraut 
made  at  the  wrong  time  would  be  bitter. 

Of  course,  people  now  do  not  have  the  faith 
in  such  things  that  was  once  manifested,  neverthe¬ 
less  there  are  yet  many  persons,  particularly  among 
the  older  folks,  who  believe  in  at  least  some  of 
them.  As  an  illustration  of  this  fact,  a  reporter 
for  a  Lancaster  paper  found  that  in  the  northern 
part  of  the  county  most  of  the  stores  were  closed 
on  Ascension  Thursday,  1923.  The  reason  was 
apparently  superstition,  for,  two  days’  later,  or 


PROVERBS  AND  SUPERSTITIONS  135 


on  May  12,  the  paper  said  editorially  that  while 
the  city  pays  little  attention  to  the  day,  in  a 
business  way  at  least,  the  county  abides  by  the 
older  traditions.  How  many  farmers  would  put 
up  a  fence  post  on  that  day?  How  many  of 
their  wives  would  take  a  needle  in  their  hands  to 
sew  on  a  missing  button  ?  All  of  us  still  cherish 
some  superstition.  The  city  man  who  is  amused 
at  his  country  cousin’s  fear  of  lightning  striking 
the  fence  post  is  usually  the  one  who  knocks  on 
wood  three  times  to  ward  off  bad  luck.  Similarly, 
the  woman  who  has  no  scruples  about  sewing  on 
Ascension  Day  will,  perhaps,  after  she  has  spilled 
salt,  throw  some  over  her  left  shoulder;  or,  she 
will  insist  on  picking  up  every  pin  that  she  sees 
on  the  floor  or  on  the  sidewalk. 

For  comparison  with  these  old  beliefs,  especially 
with  those  of  them  which  attribute  to  the  moon 
great  influence  on  the  weather,  on  vegetation, 
and  on  living  beings,  and  for  such  further  light 
as  it  may  throw  on  the  subject  under  consideration, 
the  gist  of  a  portion  of  an  article  given  prominence 
in  a  family  almanac  for  1923  published  in  Penn¬ 
sylvania  may  be  noted.  That  article,  after 


136  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 

stating  that  Saturn  was  called  the  ruling  planet 
for  the  year,  said  that  generally  the  year  under 
that  planet  was  wet,  cold,  and  disagreeable, 
although  sometimes  it  might  be  very  dry.  Grass 
and  vegetables  were  likely  to  start  slow,  and 
mature  late.  One  need  not  be  in  any  great 
haste  with  planting  and  sowing.  Wheat,  barley, 
and  rye  might  yield  good  crops,  but  much  de¬ 
pended  on  getting  them  cut  and  stored  without 
their  spoiling.  The  crop  of  hay  might  also  be 
good,  but  it  would  be  difficult  to  get  it  well  cured. 
Fruit  as  a  crop  would  be  largely  a  failure,  owing 
to  the  cold  and  inclement  nature  of  the  weather 
in  the  spring.  Hops  would  be  good,  but  not 
very  plentiful.  This  would  be  a  year  for  snakes 
and  toads  to  multiply.  Mice  would  be  numerous, 
while  worms  would  be  fewer  this  year  than  in 
other  years,  as  extreme  cold  weather  destroys 
them.  This  year  was  also  apt  to  produce  much 
sickness  toward  the  end  of  summer  and  during 
the  fall — sickness  taking  numerous  forms  that 
are  often  dangerous,  such  as  fever,  diarrhea, 
bloody  flux,  catarrh,  apoplexy,  gout,  and  consump¬ 
tion. 


PROVERBS  AND  SUPERSTITIONS  137 

With  reference  to  the  treatment  of  diseases 
and  personal  injuries  there  were  in  the  past 
numerous  superstitions,  some  of  which  were 
very  crude  and  occasionally  involved  the  employ¬ 
ment  of  incantations.  Goose  oil  was  considered 
good  for  almost  every  ailment.  Red  beat  leaves 
were  accounted  a  specific  for  inflammation. 
Rheumatism  was  to  be  cured  or  warded  off  by 
carrying  a  horse  chestnut  in  the  pocket,  by  the 
wearing  of  an  iron  ring,  or  by  tying  a  dried  eelskin 
around  the  affected  joint.  For  a  sore  throat  the 
left  stocking  was  to  be  wrapped  around  the  neck. 
For  nosebleed  there  were  several  remedies:  to 
tie  a  red  string  around  the  neck;  to  tie  a  woolen 
string  around  the  little  finger;  to  tie  an  eelskin 
around  the  arm;  to  chew  a  piece  of  newspaper; 
to  drop  a  key  or  a  penny  down  the  back;  to  pick 
up  a  stone,  drop  on  it  three  drops  of  blood,  and 
replace  the  stone  just  as  it  was,  or  for  the  person 
afflicted  to  recall  who  last  sat  next  to  him  in  church. 
For  a  toothache,  one  should  pick  the  tooth  with  a 
splinter  from  a  tree  struck  by  lightning.  Weak 
eyes  should  be  washed  with  water  from  March 
snow.  To  remove  freckles,  they  should  be  washed 


138  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


with  water  from  an  old  stump.  Warts  might  be 
removed  in  a  number  of  ways,  one  of  which  was 
to  rub  them  with  pieces  of  potato  and  bury  the 
latter  under  the  eaves  of  the  house.  If  a  person 
cut  himself  with  an  ax  he  should  cover  it  with 
grease  and  put  it  under  his  bed.  If  he  stepped 
on  a  nail  he  should  dip  it  in  fat  and  keep  it  in  a 
dry  place.  Hair  should  be  cut  when  the  moon 
is  increasing,  but  corns  when  it  is  decreasing. 

Following  this,  some  side  lights  gathered  from 
old  records  pertaining  to  a  few  individuals  should 
be  found  not  only  of  interest  in  themselves,  but 
of  value  for  what  they  show  of  more  or  less 
applicability  to  the  Pennsylvania  Germans  in 
general,  of  approximately  a  century  or  a  century 
and  a  half  ago. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


GLEANINGS  FROM  OLD  RECORDS 

English  has  been  the  official  language  of 
Pennsylvania  from  the  earliest  provincial  times. 
However,  neither  that  fact  nor  the  consequent  one 
that  the  public  records  of  Pennsylvania  have 
always  been  kept  in  English  could  ever  have  been 
counted  a  serious  disadvantage  to  the  Pennsylva¬ 
nia  Germans,  even  when  they  could  not  read  or 
speak  English.  This  was  so  because  there  were 
usually  enough  persons  in  the  various  public  offices 
who  understood  and  spoke  Pennsylvania  German 
to  make  it  easy  for  people  to  transact  business 
at  those  offices  in  that  language.  Besides,  or¬ 
dinary  laymen  must  always  depend  on  persons 
technically  familiar  with  public  records  to  find  in 
them  what  is  wanted  and  to  give  to  what  is  found 
its  right  interpretation. 

But  what  is  of  more  general  interest  now  about 
those  old  records  is  that  some  of  them  throw  light 
otherwise  unobtainable  on  the  Pennsylvania 


139 


140 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


Germans  and  their  times.  This  is  particularly 
true  of  the  records  of  wills  and  estates;  and  some 
of  the  records  of  the  wills  and  of  the  estates  of  a 
few  members  of  the  Rosenberger  family  who  lived 
in  what  are  now  Montgomery  and  Bucks  counties 
perhaps  may  as  profitably  be  considered  here  as 
any  of  the  same  dates. 

Heinrich  Rosenberger  apparently  did  not  make 
any  will,  but,  on  January  19,  1745,  for  a  stated 
consideration  of  £200,  conveyed  his  farm  of  159 
acres  to  his  son  Heinrich.  The  making  of  that 
conveyance  is  the  last  thing  actually  known  about 
Heinrich  Rosenberger,  the  pioneer,  and  it  may 
fairly  be  presumed  it  was  near  the  close  of  his 
life,  although  there  have  been  some  assumptions 
that  he  lived  many  years  beyond  1745.  Those 
assumptions  and  some  others  concerning  him  may 
possibly  be  explained  by  a  confusion  of  identity 
due  to  his  son  having  the  same  name — Heinrich 
Rosenberger — and  in  time  attracting  some  atten¬ 
tion  as  a  Mennonite  minister  at  Franconia. 

That  Heinrich  Rosenberger,  senior,  had  any 
other  child  than  his  son  Heinrich  is  not  shown  by 
any  public  record.  Still  it  has  been  assumed  that 


GLEANINGS  FROM  OLD  RECORDS  141 


he  had  four  sons:  Heinrich  Rosenberger;  Daniel 
Rosenberger,  who  in  1740  purchased  land  for  a 
farm  in  Hatfield  Township;  John  Rosenberger, 
who  about  1749  or  1750  bought  land  in  that 
township;  and  Benjamin  Rosenberger,  who  in 
1739  settled  in  the  township.  Where  these  last 
three  settled  was  about  6  miles  southeast  of 
Heinrich  Rosenberger’s  farm,  in  another  town¬ 
ship.  When  or  where  any  one  of  them  was  born 
is  not  now  known.  Nor  is  the  name  of  any  one 
of  them  to  be  found  in  the  records  kept  of  arrivals 
at  the  port  of  Philadelphia  after  1727.  That  they 
may  have  been  nephews  of  Heinrich  Rosenberger, 
if  they  were  not  his  sons,  appears  possible,  as 
mere  conjecture.  That  Daniel  and  John  were 
brothers  is  the  best  attested  point  of  relationship. 
All  were  Mennonites. 

Daniel  Rosenberger  must  have  been  a  thrifty 
farmer,  for  to  the  159  acres  of  land  which  he  pur¬ 
chased  in  1740  he  was  able  to  add  200  acres  in 
1769.  He  made  his  will  on  August  15,  1771, 
and  died  prior  to  September  23,  1771,  since  on 
the  latter  date  the  will  was  probated  in  the 
register’s  office  in  Philadelphia,  as  what  is  now 


142 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


Montgomery  County  was  a  part  of  Philadelphia 
County  until  in  1784.  The  will  was  written  in 
German,  although  the  wills  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Germans  were  generally  prepared  by  men  who 
could  understand  directions  given  in  Pennsylvania 
German  and  write  from  them  wills  in  English. 
Because  this  will  was  in  German,  there  was  filed 
with  it  a  translation  in  English,  which,  it  was 
affirmed,  was  a  true  one  “from  the  original 
Dutch.” 

The  provisions  which  Daniel  Rosenberger  made 
in  his  will  for  his  wife  now  appear  quaint,  but 
they  were  not  of  an  exceptional  character.  He 
said,  as  it  was  translated : 

I  give  to  my  loving  wife  Fronica  [perhaps  originally 
“ Veronica,”  but  spelled  “ Fronica”  because  pronounced 
much  like  that],  for  her  own,  our  bedding  and  bedstead, 
with  what  is  belonging  to  it,  her  chest  with  all  the  linen 
cloth,  our  pewter  ware,  two  pots,  and  one  cow.  Like¬ 
wise  I  give  to  my  loving  wife  for  her  yearly  maintenance, 
the  new  stove  room,  kitchen  and  cellar,  what  she  has 
use  for,  firewood  to  the  house,  8  bushels  of  rye,  5  bushels 
of  wheat,  3  bushels  of  buckwheat,  a  fat  hog  of  one  hundred 
weight,  apples  as  much  as  she  useth,  all  which  to  be  yearly 
during  the  time  she  remains  my  widow.  I  also  give  to  my 


GLEANINGS  FROM  OLD  RECORDS  143 


loving  wife  two  hundred  pounds  money  for  her  main¬ 
tenance,  to  use  as  much  as  she  hath  need  of,  while  she 
remains  my  widow,  and  the  remainder  to  come  to  my 
heirs. 

Then,  in  order  to  make  an  equitable  distribu¬ 
tion  among  his  four  children — David,  Isaac,  Ann, 
and  Mary — of  the  remainder  of  his  estate,  and 
to  have  his  sons  get  the  land,  he  made  the  provi¬ 
sions  for  his  wife  a  charge  against  200  acres  of 
land  on  a  part  of  which  were  the  farm  buildings, 
and  devised  that  land  to  his  son  David,  upon 
whom  he  specifically  enjoined  the  duty  of  carrying 
out  those  provisions  and  of  feeding  and  pasturing 
like  his  own  his  mother’s  cow,  in  addition  to  which 
he  provided  that  David  should  pay  £800  in  instal¬ 
ments  for  the  land,  less  an  allowance  of  £100  for 
time  that  David  had  been  with  his  father.  The 
remaining  159  acres  of  land  were  devised  to  Isaac, 
who  was  to  pay  £700  in  instalments  for  it.  The 
total  amount  derived  for  the  land  and  from  all 
other  sources  was,  after  the  payment  of  all  debts 
and  charges  against  the  estate,  to  be  divided 
equally  among  the  four  children;  but  to  make 
it  easier  for  David  and  Isaac,  the  share  of  each  was 


144 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


to  be  computed  and  deducted  from  what  he  was 
required  to  pay  for  his  land. 

The  inventory  that  was  filed  on  October  9, 
1771,  of  the  personal  property  left  by  Daniel 
Rosenberger  placed  a  valuation  of  £14  95.  on  his 
wearing  apparel;  and  one  of  £2  2 s.  6d.  on  his 
books.  Significantly,  too,  it  listed  razors  and  a 
hone.  Of  cash,  there  was  a  little  over  £28;  and 
in  bonds,  bills,  and  book  accounts  over  £561. 

Some  of  the  articles  which  the  widow  took 
under  the  will  were  appraised  as  follows:  Her 
chest  and  what  was  in  it,  £21  1 6s.  3d.;  her  bed 
with  its  furniture,  £9  10 s.;  all  the  pewter,  £3 
45.  3d.;  a  teakettle,  165.;  2  iron  pots  and  1  “lead” 
(a  large  pot  or  caldron  such  as  was  originally 
made  of  lead),  14s.;  a  cow,  £6.  By  the  con¬ 
sent  of  all  the  children,  the  widow  also  received 
articles  not  mentioned  in  the  will  to  the  value  of 
£18  1 6s. 

Among  other  household  goods  inventoried 
there  were  a  clock  and  case,  which  were  appraised 
at  £7  105.;  and  a  pipe  stove,  which  was  valued 
at  £4.  There  were  also  2  tables,  13  chairs, 
delftware,  earthenware,  tinware,  knives  and  forks, 


GLEANINGS  FROM  OLD  RECORDS  145 


glasses,  a  plain  chest,  a  chest  with  drawers,  a 
dresser,  2  large  clothespresses,  several  beds,  or 
bedsteads  and  bedding  (“one  bedstead  and  bed¬ 
ding  in  the  old  house”),  bed-cases,  sheets,  pillows, 
pillow-cases,  table  cloths,  hand  towels,  several 
lots  of  woolen  cloth,  blue  linings,  woolen  yarn, 
linen  tape,  thread,  hemp,  tow,  flax,  and  wool. 
Of  household  utensils  there  were  pot  racks,  fire 
tongs,  iron  pots,  a  copper  kettle,  a  bake-plate 
and  “lazy  bag,”  pans,  ladles,  funnels,  sieves, 
candlesticks,  a  steelyard,  a  coffee-mill,  and  a 
conch  shell  which  had  probably  been  made  into  a 
dinner-horn.  One  big  wheel  and  two  little  wheels, 
for  spinning,  were  also  mentioned. 

For  provisions  there  were  wheat,  corn,  rye, 
barley,  buckwheat,  beef,  pork,  honey,  molasses, 
salt,  dried  apples,  cabbages,  cheese,  butter,  lard, 
and  vinegar.  For  domestic  use  there  were  also 
hops,  tallow,  wax,  and  soap.  Furthermore,  con¬ 
sonant  with  the  times,  there  was  some  brandy  in  a 
keg  and  in  a  stone  jug  or  jugs. 

On  account  of  the  hay  that  was  on  them,  two 
stables  were  mentioned;  one  for  horses,  and 
another  for  cows.  There  were  4  horses,  1  colt, 


146  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


9  cows,  4  heifers,  2  calves,  1  bull,  10  sheep,  4 
hogs,  and  16  hives  of  bees. 

Of  farm  and  other  tools,  equipment,  and 
supplies,  there  were  listed  grubbing  and  other 
hoes,  shovels  and  spades,  axes,  a  broadax,  maul 
and  wedges,  cleaver,  pick,  cross-cut  saw,  augers, 
drawing  knives,  planes,  chisels,  pincers,  anvil, 
hammers,  grindstone,  sheep  shears,  scale  and 
weights,  chains,  plows,  harrows,  sickles,  scythes, 
grain  cradles,  whetstones,  rakes,  pitchforks,  lad¬ 
ders,  an  apple  mill,  windmill,  wheelbarrow, 
cutting-box,  flax  brake  and  hatchel,  gun,  lantern, 
wagon,  horse  gears,  currycombs,  3  saddles,  1 
sidesaddle,  harness  leather,  dressed  sheepskins, 
upper  and  sole  leather  for  shoes,  parcel  of  window 
glass,  lumber,  shingles,  nails,  riddles  (coarse 
sieves),  baskets,  bags,  barrels,  casks,  tubs,  pails, 
bottles,  oats,  hempseed,  flaxseed,  and  timothy 
seed. 

This  somewhat  lengthy  summary  of  items  from 
this  inventory  is  given  here  for  the  purpose  of 
throwing  such  light  as  it  may  on  the  lives  of 
Pennsylvania- German  farmers  in  the  year  1771, 
by  showing  what  things  one  of  the  well-to-do 


GLEANINGS  FROM  OLD  RECORDS  147 


ones  then  had,  and  leaving  it  to  be  inferred  from 
omissions  in  the  list  what  things  now  counted 
necessaries  were  not  then  enjoyed. 

The  tax  list  for  Hatfield  Township  for  the  year 
1789  indicated  that  there  were  between  seventy 
and  eighty  families  in  the  township,  while  a 
memorandum  on  the  last  page  gave  this  summary : 
21  single  men,  6,833  acres  of  land,  132  horses, 
292  cows,  3  gristmills,  1  sawmill,  1  tan-yard. 
A  similar  memorandum  on  the  last  page  of  the 
list  of  taxables  in  1799  for  what  was  then 
Providence  Township  enumerated  20,639  acres 
of  land,  269  horses,  680  head  of  cattle,  10  gristmills, 
6  sawmills,  1  oilmill,  4  tan-yards,  12  distilleries, 
and  11  slaves. 

Daniel  Rosenberger’s  son  David  married  Ann 
Funk,  daughter  of  Christian  Funk  and  grand¬ 
daughter  of  Bishop  Heinrich  Funck.  Christian 
Funk  was  a  broad-minded,  able  Mennonite 
minister,  who  apparently  took  a  more  friendly 
attitude  toward  the  American  Revolution  than 
some  of  his  brethren  thought  that  a  Mennonite 
should  take  toward  war,  one  of  his  contentions 
being  that  the  war  taxes  imposed  should  be  paid 


148  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


without  any  consideration  of  the  use  that  was  to 
be  made  of  them.  On  account  of  the  position 
that  he  took  in  some  such  matters,  he  was  eventu¬ 
ally  expelled  from  the  church,  after  which  he 
organized  a  church  that  was  composed  of  Men- 
nonites  who  were  in  sympathy  with  his  views. 
The  first  child  born  to  David  and  Ann  Funk 
Rosenberger  they  named  “  Christian.” 

David  Rosenberger  died  in  1821.  The  year 
has  sometimes  been  stated  to  have  been  1829, 
but  his  making  his  will  on  March  7,  1821,  and  its 
being  proved  on  September  19,  1821,  show  that 
his  death  occurred  between  those  dates  in  1821. 
His  wife,  Ann  Funk,  had  died  a  number  of  years 
previously,  and  he  had  afterward  married  for 
his  second  wife,  Barbara,  daughter  of  John 
Dettwiler.  David  Rosenberger  left  surviving  him 
six  children  by  his  first  wife,  and  four  by  the  sec¬ 
ond.  The  provisions  which  he  made  in  his  will  for 
his  wife  Barbara  and  for  his  ten  children,  treating 
the  latter  in  effect  as  nearly  alike  as  possible,  were 
of  essentially  the  same  character  as  those  made 
fifty  years  before  by  Daniel  Rosenberger — for  his 
wife  and  children.  Nor  did  David  Rosenberger 


GLEANINGS  FROM  OLD  RECORDS 


149 


forget  the  children  of  a  deceased  daughter — one 
by  his  first  wife. 

By  his  will  David  Rosenberger  gave  to  his  wife 
Barbara  two  beds  and  all  that  belonged  to  them; 
what  were  called  her  chest  and  her  clothespress 
and  their  contents,  the  chest  not  to  be  opened, 
inspected,  or  inventoried;  her  kitchen  dresser 
with  all  the  furniture  thereon  and  therein;  a 
clock  and  case;  a  new  walnut  table;  4  chairs, 
2  buckets;  2  tubs;  1  iron  pot;  a  teakettle;  a 
fire  shovel  and  tongs;  a  big  wheel;  a  spinning 
wheel,  and  a  reel ;  a  ten-plate  stove ;  the  choice  of 
2  cows,  which  were  to  be  pastured  for  her;  and 
yearly  10  bushels  of  rye,  6  bushels  of  wheat, 
4  bushels  of  buckwheat,  as  much  as  she  might 
desire  for  her  use  of  apples  and  other  fruit  growing 
on  the  farm;  200  pounds  of  good  fattened  pork, 
and  100  pounds  of  beef.  She  was  also  to  have, 
for  the  term  of  her  natural  life,  the  use  of  either 
the  northeast  or  the  southwest  part  of  the  dwelling- 
house,  whichever  she  might  choose,  with  such  use 
as  she  might  need  of  the  kitchen,  cellar,  spring- 
house,  and  bake-oven;  and  was  to  have  the  use 
of  one-third  of  the  garden,  as  well  as  was  to  have 


150  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 

one-quarter  of  an  acre  of  good  ground  sowed 
annually  with  flax  seed,  and  was  to  have  a  suffi¬ 
ciency  of  good  firewood,  ready  cut  and  split,  and 
delivered  at  her  door. 

Most  of  the  personal  property  of  David 
Rosenberger,  according  to  the  inventory  which 
was  filed  on  September  19,  1821,  was  similar  to 
that  which  his  father  had  possessed,  and  included 
a  razor,  hone,  and  strap,  appraised  at  fifty  cents. 
His  live  stock  consisted  of  4  horses,  12  cows, 
3  heifers,  21  sheep,  and  15  hogs.  He  had,  besides 
a  wagon,  a  wagon  body  and  cover,  a  sleigh,  and 
sleds.  Other  things  that  perhaps  should  be  noted 
were  a  lamp,  2  lanterns,  slate,  armchair,  rocking 
cradle,  wool  cards,  cider  mill,  frying  pans,  earthen 
pots,  dough  troughs,  crowbar,  post  chisel,  gun 
valued  at  seventy-five  cents,  smoked  meat,  and 
a  barrel  with  whiskey,  these  last  two  being 
appraised  as  being  together  worth  one  dollar. 

David  Rosenberger,  like  his  father  Daniel, 
lived  in  Hatfield  Township;  but  Christian  Rosen¬ 
berger,  son  of  David  Rosenberger,  settled  in  that 
part  of  Providence  Township  that  about  1805 
was  made  Lower  Providence  Township. 


Part  of  Old  Cider  Press  with  Beam  25  Feet  Long 

The  flowers  are  those  of  the  wild  carrot 


An  Old  Stone  House  (Now  Plastered  Over),  Perhaps  Built  by 
Christian  Rosenberger  Early  in  the  Nineteenth  Century 


GLEANINGS  FROM  OLD  RECORDS  151 


Christian  Rosenberger  has  been  described 
as  having  been  particularly  well  off  for  a 
Pennsylvania-German  farmer  of  his  day.  He 
apparently  did  not  make  any  will.  The  inventory 
which  was  made  in  November,  1824,  of  his 
personal  property  included  these  valuations:  5 
horses,  $225;  9  cows,  $130;  15  sheep,  $16;  9 
pigs,  $9.  It  also  showed  that  he  had,  among 
many  other  things,  4  lots  of  books,  valued  at 
$8;  an  English  Bible,  valued  at  $2;  2  shares  of 
stock  in  the  Bethlehem  turnpike,  $10;  riding 
chair  and  harness,  $20;  dining-table,  37 \  cents; 
corner  cupboard,  $1.25;  bureau,  75  cents;  desk, 
$5;  trunk,  50  cents;  1  chaff  bed,  25  cents;  quilts; 
coverlids;  breadbaskets;  baking  plank;  kraut  tub; 
sausage  stuff er,  31  cents;  washing  machine,  25 
cents;  winnowing  mill,  $12;  apple  mill  and 
trough,  $2;  cider  press,  $3;  2  barrels  of  cider, 
$4;  5  barrels  of  vinegar,  $5;  1  still,  $8;  1  decanter, 
12!  cents;  1  barrel  and  whiskey,  50  cents;  40 
milk  pots,  80  cents;  2  churns  and  stand,  50  cents; 
2  stoves  and  pipe,  $8;  wheelbarrow,  $1.25;  2 
axes,  $1.50;  shaving  horse,  25  cents;  saddler’s 
bench,  50  cents ;  2  sets  of  horse  gears,  $3 ;  sleigh, 


I52 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


$8;  2  harrows,  $5;  37  oak  posts,  $2.59;  100  post 
rails,  $5;  1^  cords  of  oak  wood,  $3;  8  cords  of 
hickory  wood,  $24;  hoop  net  and  seine,  75  cents; 
fowling  piece,  $1.50;  clock  and  case,  $12;  one 
silver  watch,  $1.50,  and  another  one,  $6;  shaving 
tools,  31  cents;  and  looking-glass,  12 J  cents. 
These  valuations  furnish  a  slight  index  to  qualities 
and  values  ninety-nine  years  ago. 

A  riding  chair  was  a  comparatively  light,  two¬ 
wheeled,  one-horse  gig  or  carriage  that  began  to 
be  seen  in  a  few  localities  at  a  time  in  the  eighteenth 
century  when  most  people  were  yet  going  to  church 
and  to  market  on  horseback. 

Christian  Rosenberger  married  an  Elizabeth 
Kraut,  by  whom  he  had  eight  children,  the  second 
one  being  born  in  1797,  and  named  Jacob. 

Jacob  Rosenberger  was  a  Mennonite,  but  in  a 
record  of  marriages  solemnized  by  Reverend 
George  Wack,  of  the  Reformed  church,  as  pub¬ 
lished  in  the  Perkiomen  Region ,  Past  and  Present 
(II,  1 1 5),  there  is  this  entry  of  1820:  “  December 
12.  Jacob  Rosenberger  and  Maria  Dettwiler.” 
Jacob  Rosenberger  died  on  April  n,  1831.  The 
inventory  of  his  personal  property,  which  referred 


GLEANINGS  FROM  OLD  RECORDS  153 


to  him  as  “late  of  Worcester  Township/’  showed 
little  that  was  different  from  anything  that  his 
father  had;  but  it  included,  with  other  things: 
5  horses  and  colts,  $130;  riding  horse,  saddle 
and  bridle,  $80;  n  cows,  $178;  8  hogs,  $36; 

1  Dearborn  wagon,  cover,  and  gears  $8;  1  market 
wagon  and  cover,  $25;  1  apple  mill,  $5;  1  apple 
press,  $8;  plow,  $1.50;  2  milk  cupboards;  skim¬ 
mer;  dripping  pan;  crane  and  pot  rack,  $1;  and¬ 
irons,  40  cents;  boring  machine  and  augers, 
$1.50;  post  spade,  75  cents;  half-bushel  measure, 
25  cents;  apple  butter,  $4.20;  6  barrels  of  vinegar, 
$12;  6  swarms  of  bees,  $15;  gun,  31  cents; 

2  lots  of  books,  $2.62^.  No  liquor  was  listed. 

To  Jacob  Rosenberger  and  his  wife  eight 
children  were  born,  seven  of  whom  lived  to 
comparatively  old  age,  and  one  of  whom  was 
Jesse  Rosenberger,  who  was  born  on  May  1, 
1827. 

Jesse  Rosenberger  soon  after  he  became  of  age 
set  out  for  what  was  then  known  as  the  “West,” 
and  settled  for  a  while  in  Stark  County,  Ohio, 
probably  at  Alliance,  in  order  to  follow  his  trade 
as  a  shoemaker,  although  he  afterward  became  a 


iS4 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


farmer  and  a  nurseryman.  On  June  2,  1850,  he 
married  Esther  Heim,  whose  home  was  then  a 
few  miles  from  Alliance — in  Columbiana  County, 
Ohio — but  who  was  born  in  Cumberland  County, 
Pennsylvania,  on  July  16,  1833.  Both  of  them 
early  joined  the  Baptist  church,  and  he  at  one 
time  did  some  preaching.  She  died  at  Maiden 
Rock,  Wisconsin,  on  December  12,  1871.  He 
subsequently  married  again.  He  died  at  Iola, 
Kansas,  on  March  20,  1909. 

The  parents  of  Esther  Heim  were  Leonhard 
Heim  (as  he  signed  his  name,  in  German)  and  his 
first  wife — whose  maiden  name  was  Mary  Snyder 
— whom  he  married  about  1831  in  Pennsylvania, 
whence  in  1840  they  moved  to  Ohio.  Mrs.  Heim 
died  some  time  prior  to  1847.  Mr.  Heim’s 
death  is  recorded  in  the  West  Township  Cemetery 
— formerly  often  called  the  “Heim  Cemetery” — 
at  Moultrie,  in  Columbiana  County,  Ohio,  on  a 
tombstone  which  bears  the  inscription :  ‘  ‘  Leonard 
Heim,  Died  May  7,  1853,  Aged  44  ys.  2  ms. 
16  ds.”  Leonhard  or  Leonard  Heim  (by  some 
persons  spelled  “Hime”)  learned  the  trade  of 
blacksmith,  but  after  his  marriage  he  became  a 


GLEANINGS  FROM  OLD  RECORDS  155 

farmer.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Lutheran 
church.  His  father  was  Matthias  Heim,  who  was 
a  farmer  but  at  one  time  taught  a  German 
school.  The  father  of  Matthias  Heim  was,  accord¬ 
ing  to  biographical  histories  pertaining  to  North¬ 
umberland  and  Schuylkill  counties,  Georg  Heim, 
a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  intelligence  and 
education,  who,  with  two  brothers,  came  from 
Wiirttemberg,  Germany,  comparatively  early  in 
the  eighteenth  century.  He  rendered  service  as 
a  schoolmaster  and  as  a  surveyor,  as  well  as 
farmed.  It  has  been  quite  reliably  said  that  both 
Georg  Heim  and  his  son  Matthias  lived  in  North¬ 
umberland  County,  while  there  is  other  and  strong 
evidence  of  their  having  lived,  possibly  at  a 
little  later  date,  in  a  part  of  Berks  County  that 
was  in  1811  used  in  the  formation  of  Schuylkill 
County.  From  either  Schuylkill  County  or 
Northumberland  County  Leonhard  Heim  went, 
with  two  or  three  of  his  brothers,  to  Franklin 
County,  after  which  he  appears  to  have  crossed 
over  into  Cumberland  County,  whence  he  went 
to  Ohio,  whither  also  went  his  brothers,  Philipp, 
Johannes,  and  Daniel.  Other  brothers  of  his 


156  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


were  named  Georg,  Samuel,  Joseph,  Benjamin, 
and,  perhaps,  Amos. 

The  westward  going  of  Jesse  Rosenberger  and 
the  settlements  and  removals  mentioned  of 
members  of  the  Heim  family  were  but  examples 
of  what  many  Pennsylvania  Germans  were  doing 
at  about  that  time,  in  order  to  secure  such  advan¬ 
tages  as  the  newer  sections  of  the  country  offered 
them. 

A  son  born  to  Jesse  Rosenberger  and  his  wife, 
Esther  Heim  Rosenberger,  on  January  6,  i860, 
at  Lake  City,  Minnesota,  they  named  Jesse 
Leonard  Rosenberger. 

Of  Jesse  Rosenberger;  of  Jesse  Leonard  Rosen¬ 
berger  ;  and  of  Susan  Esther  Colver,  who  was  born 
in  South  Abington  (now  Whitman),  Massachu¬ 
setts,  on  November  15,  1859,  was  of  Puritan  and 
Mayflower  descent,  was  known  as  having  been 
an  unusually  competent  and  successful  principal 
of  schools  in  Chicago,  Illinois,  and  who  became 
the  wife  of  Jesse  Leonard  Rosenberger,  and  died, 
in  Chicago,  on  November  19,  1918,  quite  full 
accounts  have  been  given  in  Through  Three 
Centuries;  Colver  and  Rosenberger  Lives  and  Times , 


GLEANINGS  FROM  OLD  RECORDS  157 


1 620-1 Q22  (Jesse  Leonard  Rosenberger.  Chicago: 
The  University  of  Chicago  Press,  1922). 

In  the  spelling  of  the  family  names  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Germans  there  has  been  a  surpris¬ 
ingly  large  number  of  changes  made  for  a  people 
as  much  disposed  as  they  have  been  to  maintain 
their  own  language  and  identity.  There  may  be 
several  reasons  for  this — a  desire  to  simplify  the 
spelling  of  their  names,  or  to  shorten  them;  an 
inclination  to  make  them  a  little  more  American; 
or  the  influence  exerted  by  school  teachers, 
lawyers,  public  officials,  and  business  men  in 
writing  or  pronouncing  the  names  in  an  American¬ 
ized  form. 

For  answering  the  question  as  to  what  was  the 
original  spelling  of  a  name  where,  as  is  frequently 
the  case,  there  are  no  trustworthy  old  private 
papers  or  records  to  refer  to,  the  public  records 
may  often  be  very  helpful,  and  lead  to  a  fairly 
reliable  conclusion.  Such  informal  records  as  old 
tax  lists,  however,  are  not  of  much  value  for 
this  purpose,  since  those  for  a  number  of  years 
may  have  the  name  differently  spelled  almost 
every  year,  and  correctly  only  occasionally.  Much 


158  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


better  evidence  is  furnished  by  the  signatures  to 
deeds  and  to  wills,  or,  secondarily,  the  records, 
of  them. 

Thus,  the  deed,  wills,  and  probate  records  which 
have  been  cited,  involving  the  names  of  Heinrich, 
Daniel,  David,  and  Christian  Rosenberger  show 
quite  conclusively  that  “Rosenberger”  was  the 
family  name  of  each  one  of  them. 

Jacob,  son  of  Christian,  was  married  under 
the  name  of  “Rosenberger,”  but  at  some  time 
thereafter  he  changed  his  name  to  “Jacob  Rosen- 
berry,”  and  some  of  his  children  continued  to  use 
the  name  “Rosenberry,”  while  his  son  Jesse 
retained  the  name  of  “Rosenberger” — Jesse 
Rosenberger. 

Important  information  about  names  and  dates 
of  birth  and  death  is  also  frequently  supplied  by 
tombstones.  For  example,  there  are  seven  or 
eight  Mennonite  cemeteries  in  Montgomery  and 
Bucks  counties  in  which  a  number  of  Rosenbergers 
have  been  buried,  and  in  most  cases  the  name  on 
the  tombstones  is  spelled  “Rosenberger,”  while 
the  few  variations  in  spelling  the  name  are  of  such 
a  nature  as  a  whole  as  not  to  detract  from  the 


GLEANINGS  FROM  OLD  RECORDS  159 


belief  that  “Rosenberger”  is  the  original  and  what 
may  be  termed  the  proper  spelling  of  the  name. 
A  small  number  of  the  inscriptions  are  in  German. 

But  while  it  is  supposed  that  Heinrich  Rosen- 
berger  was  buried  in  the  Mennonite  cemetery 
at  Franconia,  and  that  Daniel  Rosenberger  and 
his  son  David  were  buried  in  the  cemetery  of 
the  Mennonite  church  at  Line  Lexington,  in 
Bucks  County,  across  the  county  line  from  where 
they  lived  in  Hatfield  Township,  there  are  no 
tombstones  to  show  it  or  to  tell  anything  else 
about  them.  The  early  graves  in  both  of  those 
cemeteries  were  either  unmarked  or  marked 
simply  with  rough  pieces  of  common  stone — 
generally  red  shale — on  a  few  of  which  at  one  time 
or  another  names,  or  more  frequently  only  initials, 
and  sometimes  dates,  were  scratched,  as  it  might 
have  been  done,  with  a  nail. 

Christian  Rosenberger,  it  has  been  stated,  was 
born  about  1773,  and  died  in  1821.  Both  of  those 
dates,  however,  are  evidently  erroneous,  for  in 
the  Mennonite  cemetery  of  what  is  called  the 
Worcester  or  Methacton  congregation,  about  a 
mile  north  of  what  is  known  as  Fairview  Village, 


160  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 

there  is  a  tombstone  that  was  erected,  as  the 
somewhat  weather-worn  inscription  says:  “In 
memory  of  Christian  Rosenberger,  who  departed 
this  life  November  5th,  1824,  in  the  53rd  year  of 
his  age.” 

His  son  Jacob  was  buried  in  this  same  cemetery, 
as  is  shown  by  a  tombstone  inscribed:  “In 
memory  of  Jacob  Rosenberry,  who  departed  this 
life  April  nth,  1831,  aged  33  years,  6  months  & 
22  days.”  Yet,  as  bearing  on  the  spelling  of  the 
family  name,  it  is  significant  that  another  tomb¬ 
stone,  by  the  side  of  that  one,  reads:  “In  memory 
of  Susan  ah  Rosenberger,  daughter  of  Jacob  & 
Mary  Rosenberger,  who  departed  this  life  May 
29th,  1835,  a£ed  13  years,  4  months  &  23  days.” 

A  few  tombstones  erected  within  the  last 
thirty  or  forty  years  for  Rosenbergers  buried  in 
Mennonite  cemeteries  have  underneath  the  regular 
inscriptions  scriptural  references  which  are  desig¬ 
nated  “texts.”  Thus,  one  reads:  “Text:  St. 
Mark  13  c.  33  v.”  Several  others  respectively 
refer,  in  a  similar  manner,  to  “Isa.  57:1”;  “Rev. 
2:10  and  Phil.  1:21”;  “Ps.  132:14”;  “II  Tim. 
4:7-8”;  and  “Job  29:2-5.”  Those  over  whose 


GLEANINGS  FROM  OLD  RECORDS  161 


graves  these  admonitions  and  declarations  of 
experience  appear  had  attained  ages  ranging  from 
fifty-six  to  eighty- two  years,  and  it  would  seem 
probable  that  they  had  selected  their  texts. 

The  pious,  somewhat  stereotyped  expressions 
which  were  frequently  embodied  in  the  introduc¬ 
tory  part  of  wills  are  well  illustrated  in  a  will 
that  was  made  by  a  Rosenberger,  in  Bucks 
County,  in  1817.  This  will  began: 

In  the  name  of  God,  Amen.  I  .  .  .  .  (yeoman)  do 
find  myself  of  perfect  health  of  body  and  of  sound  mind, 
memory,  and  understanding;  thanks  be  given  unto  God. 
Calling  unto  mind  the  mortality  of  my  body,  and  knowing 
that  it  is  appointed  for  all  men  once  to  die,  therefore  I  do 
make  and  ordain  this  my  last  will  and  testament.  First 
of  all,  I  recommend  my  soul  to  the  hand  of  God  Almighty, 
and  my  body  I  recommend  to  the  earth,  to  be  buried  in 
decent  Christian  burial  at  the  discretion  of  my  executors, 
nothing  doubting  but  at  the  general  resurrection  I  shall 
receive  the  same  again  by  the  mighty  power  of  God.  And 
as  touching  my  worldly  estate  wherewith  it  hath  pleased 
God  to  bless  me  in  this  life,  I  give,  etc. 

In  this  last  connection  it  may  also  be  of  some 
interest  to  note  that,  after  the  testator  had  made 
various  provisions  for  his  wife,  and  for  the  letting 
during  her  lifetime  of  such  portions  of  the  farm- 


162 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


house  and  land  as  were  not  reserved  for  her  use, 
he  said  quaintly :  “And  if  my  wife  should  have  any 
inclination  to  keep  a  hog,  it  shall  have  liberty  to 
go  where  the  tenant’s  his  Hogs  doth  go.” 

Another  will,  made  in  the  same  year  by  a 
Rosenberger  in  Montgomery  County,  began  with 
practically  the  same  wording  as  the  will  in  Bucks 
County,  except  that  this  testator  stated  that  he 
found  himself  “very  weak  in  body,  but  of  perfect 
mind,  memory,  and  understanding — thanks  be 
given  unto  God,”  and  that  this  testator  recom¬ 
mended  his  body  to  the  earth  “in  the  hope  of  a 
joyful  resurrection  by  the  merits  of  our  Savior 
Jesus  Christ.” 

In  disposing  of  the  worldly  estate  wherewith, 
as  he  declared,  it  had  pleased  God  to  bless  him 
in  this  life,  after  enumerating  a  number  of  things 
which  he  said  he  gave  to  his  “dearly  beloved 
wife,”  one  of  those  things  being  “my  pipe  stove 
with  all  that  belongs  to  it,”  he  added:  “This  all 
I  give  to  my  wife  during  her  lifetime  (except  the 
pipe  stove).  If  my  wife  should  intermarry  again, 
then  it  is  my  will  that  said  stove  shall  devolve 
to  my  children.” 


GLEANINGS  FROM  OLD  RECORDS  163 

A  further  provision  of  this  will  was:  “I  give 
to  my  son  my  Martyr  Book.” 

These  bequests  not  only  appear  somewhat 
strange  now  but  indicate  a  valuation  of  a  “pipe 
stove”  and  of  a  “Martyr  Book,”  with  a  general 
state  of  mind  a  hundred  years  ago  very  different 
from  any  obtaining  at  the  present  time.  It  would 
be  very  difficult  now  to  find  among  the  most 
conservative  of  the  Pennsylvania- German  Men- 
nonites  one  who  would  wish  to  incorporate  any 
such  provisions  in  his  will;  and  it  would  be  still 
more  difficult  to  find  a  son  who  would  particu¬ 
larly  appreciate  the  bequest  of  a  “Martyr  Book,” 
otherwise  than  possibly  as  a  cherished  heirloom 
or  memento  of  the  past. 

Likewise  most  of  the  other  provisions  that  have 
been  quoted  from  wills  a  century  or  more  old  and 
the  inclusion  in  the  inventories  of  brandy  and 
whiskey  clearly  show  different  economic  and  other 
conditions  and  frame  of  mind  from  those  which 
are  current  now.  Even  the  older  people  who  cling 
most  tenaciously  to  the  customs,  teachings, 
language,  and  associations  of  their  early  days  are 
more  or  less — although  it  may  be  unconsciously — 


1 64  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


affected  by  modernism  operating  directly  or  in¬ 
directly  on  them  through  the  pulpit,  the  Sunday- 
schools,  the  public  schools,  the  public  press,  the 
daily  rural  delivery  of  mails,  the  wide  use  of 
automobiles,  the  extensive  railroad  and  trolley 
systems,  the  installation  of  telephones,  and  the 
things  which  they  see  and  hear  whenever  they  go 
into  any  city  or  village,  for  no  community  can 
be  found  that  does  not  have  a  considerable  modern 
American  atmosphere. 

There  is  a  strong  and  an  increasing  tendency, 
moreover,  among  the  younger  people  of  virtually 
all  classes  to  conform  as  nearly  as,  with  broadening 
views,  they  think  they  rightly  may,  to  the  opinions 
and  ways  of  the  world,  and  to  enjoy  all  that,  by 
their  new  standards,  they  may  be  able  to  of  its 
pleasures,  comforts,  and  luxuries,  which  adds  to 
the  historic  interest  and  importance  of  these 
records  of  bygone  generations,  customs,  and 
thought. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


American  flags  in  school,  82 

Amish,  81,83-85,  122-25;  pic- 
tures,  opp.  24,  84 

Ammann,  or  Amen,  Jacob,  122 

Amsterdam,  18 

Amusements,  worldly  prohibited 
by  Mennonites,  89,  102-3, 
104,  106,  108.  See  also  Diver¬ 
sions 

Animals,  domestic,  32-33,  35-38, 
71-72,  145-46,  147,  150,  151, 
153;  wild,  4 

Apple  butter,  36,  41,  59,  60,  153 

Apple  mills  and  cider  presses, 
56-58,  146,  150,  151,  153; 
illus.,  opp.  1 50 

Ascension  Day,  134,  135 

Atlantic,  crossing,  17,  18-21 

Automobiles,  48,  66,  97, 106, 123, 
124,  164 

Baily,  Francis,  62 

Bake-ovens,  52-53,  149 

Barns  and  stables,  2,  37,  44-45, 
145;  in  views,  opp.  36,  44,  122 

Bees  or  “frolics,”  28,  33,  65,  66 

Berks  County,  10,  155 

Birds,  4 

Books,  19,  23,  64,  74-76,  9i-92j 
103-4,  131,  144,  151,  153 

Boots  and  shoes,  38-39,  72,  146 

Bridges,  47;  view,  opp.  10 

Bucks  County,  10,  140,  158,  159, 
16 1.  See  also  Mennonite 
churches,  view  of,  opp.  108 


Canada,  125 
Carpets,  54,  66,  93,  123 
“Caves,”  25-27 

Cemeteries,  72,  91, 107-8, 158-60 
Chambersburg,  62 

Character  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Germans,  v,  3,  8,  n,  65,  67,  69, 
86,  123,  127,  163-64 

Charles  II,  5 
Chester,  6 
Chicago,  Ill.,  156 

Children,  22,  64,  65,  67,  76-85, 
95,  106,  113,  115,  124 

Churches,  70-74,  90,  92-96,  123; 
views  of,  opp.  70,  90,  96, 
108 

Cider,  36,  56,  58-59,  151 

Cider  presses.  See  Apple  mills; 
view,  opp.  150 

Clearing  of  land,  33-34 

Clothing,  38-40,  51,  83-85,  89, 
105-13,  123-24,  144 

Colver,  Susan  Esther,  156 

Conestoga  Creek,  48;  view,  opp. 
36 

Courtships,  66,  67 
Cowes,  Isle  of  Wight,  19 
Crefelders,  6,  7,  26,  90 
Cumberland  County,  154,  155 

Custom-houses  on  the  Rhine, 
18 

Customs  and  manners,  v,  12-14, 
30-32,  43,  59-64,  68,  71-72, 
94-95 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


1 68 


Delaware  River,  5,  7,  25-27 

Dettwiler:  Barbara,  148;  John, 
148;  Maria,  152 

Die  kleine  geistliche  Harfe ,  116 

Diseases  and  injuries,  super¬ 
stitions  concerning  them  and 
their  treatment,  135-38 

Distilleries,  147 

Diversions,  65-67 

Dock,  Christopher,  64,  76-82 

Dutch,  people  and  language, 
5,  7,  91,  142 

Education,  10,  22-23,  69,  73-83, 
85,  99,  109-10;  views  of 

schoolhouses,  opp.  76,  84 

English  language,  23,  74,  1 15-17, 
139,  142 

English  people,  5,  6,  7,  8,  20,  32 

Ephrata,  92;  view  of  cloister 
buildings,  opp.  76 

Equipment,  implements,  tools, 
and  utensils,  12,  19,  22,  31-36, 
144-46,  149-53 

Fairview  Village,  159 

Fences,  1,  2,  35,  45;  views: 
“ snake, ”  opp.  36;  mortised- 
post,  opp.  44 

Fireplaces  and  kindling  of  fires, 

30-31 

Flowers,  8,  50,  102,  107-8;  in 
landscape,  opp.  4,  15 1 

Foods  and  drinks,  17,  19,  36,  40- 
41,  49-50,  52-54,  58-61,  63, 
72,  142,  145,  149-50;  curb- 
market  scenes,  opp.  50 

Forests  and  woodland,  1-3,  8,  24, 
27,  33-34,  45 

Franconia,  90,  117,  140,  159; 
view  of  church,  opp.  108; 
schoolhouse,  opp.  84 

Franconia  Township,  3 


Frankfort,  Germany,  7 
Frankfort  Land  Company,  7 
Franklin  County,  62,  109,  155 
Friends  or  Quakers,  6 
Friesland,  86,  87 
“Frolics.”  See  Bees 
Funck,  Bishop  Heinrich,  91,  147 
Funerals,  72,  102,  107 

Funk,  Ann,  147;  Christian, 
147-48 

Furnishings  of  houses,  12,  31-32, 
50-55,  62-64,  1 13,  123,  144- 
45,  149,  151,  153 

Game,  hunting,  and  inventoried 
guns,  4,  9,  40,  65,  146,  150, 
152,  153 

“Gear”  or  harness,  40,  146,  151, 
i53 

General  Conference  of  the  Men- 
nonites  of  North  America,  90 

German  Baptist  Brethren  or 
Dunkers,  69 

German  Seventh  Day  Baptists, 
92;  view  of  cloister  buildings, 
opp.  76 

Germans,  early,  4,  6-10,  16,  20, 
23,  24;  hard  workers,  24-25, 
33y34,  38,  39-40,  65;  hard¬ 
ships  of  in  Germany,  11-16, 
and  on  journey,  16-21;  many 
redemptioners,  20-23 ;  reli¬ 
gious  character,  69-71;  segre¬ 
gative,  7-8,  9-10;  temperate, 
67;  took  good  care  of  live 
stock,  36-37 

Germantown,  7-9,  27,  49,  89- 
90;  view  of  Mennonite  church, 
opp.  90;  of  Rittenhouse  home, 
opp.  44 

Germany,  10,  18,  86,  87 

Grain,  2,  33,  36,  37,  142,  145, 
149 


INDEX 


169 


Grapes,  wild,  8 
Gristmills,  147 

Hatfield  Township,  141,  147, 

150,  159 

Heilbronn,  18 

Heim:  Amos,  156;  Benjamin, 
156;  Daniel,  155;  Georg, 
iS5,  156;  Johannes,  155; 
Joseph,  156;  Matthias,  155; 
Philipp,  155;  Samuel,  156 

“Heim  Cemetery,”  154 
Heim,  Esther,  154 
Heim,  Leonhard  or  Leonard, 
154-55 

“Herrites,”  125 
Hime.  See  Heim 
Holland,  6,  18-19,  86,  87,  89 
“Hope  chests,”  68 

Horse  sheds,  97;  glimpses  of, 
in  views,  opp.  84,  108 

Houses,  first  rude,  25-27;  in 
Lancaster,  61;  in  landscape,  2; 
log,  4,  27-30,  42;  stone, 

42-44;  views,  opp.  4,  36,  44, 
62,  90,  122,  150 

Hudson,  Henry,  5 
Hudson  River,  5 

Indian  Creek,  scene,  opp.  4 
Indian  Creek  Valley,  3 
Indians,  3-4,  5 

Inventory  of  personal  property, 
in  1771,  144-46;  in  1821, 
150;  in  1824,  151-52;  in  1831, 
153 

Iola,  Kansas,  154 
Irish,  6,  20 

Journey  to  Pennsylvania ,  18 
Kraut,  Elizabeth,  152 


Lake  City,  Minn.,  156 

Lancaster,  city  of,  46,  47-48, 
49-50,  59,  61;  views,  opp.  36, 
50,  62 

Lancaster  Conference  (Mennon- 
ite),  rules  and  discipline,  10 1-5 

Lancaster  County,  10,  65, 

81,  89,  92,  93,  125,  134-35, 
views,  opp.  24,  76,  84,  90,  96, 
108 

Landisville,  view  of  old  Men- 
nonite  log  meeting-house  at, 
opp.  96 

Lehigh  County,  10 

Lighting,  by  candles,  31,  54,  63; 
fireplaces,  30,  62-63;  lamps, 

54- 55,  93,  150;  lanterns, 

55- 56,  146,  150;  of  Men- 
nonite  churches,  93 

Lincoln,  82 

Line  Lexington,  159;  view  of 
Mennonite  church,  opp.  108 

Liquors,  67,  72-73,  145,  147,  150, 
151,  153,  163 

Lower  Providence  Township, 
150 

Lutherans,  14,  69,  74,  85,  155; 
views,  opp.  70,  76 

Maiden  Rock,  Wis.,  154 

Markets  and  marketing,  37,  48- 
50;  curb-market  scenes  in 
Lancaster,  opp.  50 

Marriage,  67-68;  Mennonite 
rules  as  to,  88,  100,  101-2 

Martyrs’ Mirror,  91-92,  163 

Mayflower,  156 

Mennonite  Year-Book  and  Direc¬ 
tory,  1923,  100 

Mennonites:  Ammann  or  Amen, 
Jacob,  122;  Amish,  81,  83-85, 
122-25;  amusements,  worldly, 


170 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


forbidden,  89,  102-3,  io4>  106, 
108;  baptism,  87,  100,  101, 
118-19;  Bible,  86-88,  99,  100, 
15 1 ;  bishops,  98,  101,  102, 
105,  no,  1 1 7-19;  cemeteries, 
91,  107-8,  158-60;  churches 
or  meeting-houses,  90,  92-97, 
and  views  of  those  at  Fran¬ 
conia,  opp.  p.  108 — German¬ 
town  (oldest  in  America), 
opp.  90 — Landisville  (log), 
opp.  96 — Line  Lexington,  Mel- 
linger’s,  Millwood,  Strasburg, 
and  one  called  Worcester  or 
Methacton,  opp.  108 — also 
view  of  corner  of  an  interior, 
opp.  96;  church  services,  97, 
104,  1 14,  1 1 5-21;  communion, 
101,  117-18;  collections,  115; 
deacons,  104,  no;  devotions, 
private,  1 13;  doctrines,  87-89, 
91-92,  100-109,  122,  125; 

dress,  81,  83-85,  89,  100,  105- 
13,  123-24;  education,  99, 
109-10,  1 21;  farmers,  92,  99; 
feetwashing,  89,  100,  101,  119- 
20,  122;  flowers,  102,  107-8; 
Franconia  church  and  ceme¬ 
tery,  90-91,  116-17,  159; 

Franconia  conference,  rules 
and  discipline,  105-7;  Funck, 
Bishop  Heinrich,  91,  147; 

funerals,  107;  Funk,  Chris¬ 
tian,  147-48;  General  Con¬ 
ference  rulings,  108-9;  govern¬ 
ment,  civil,  attitude  toward, 

88,  103,  107;  grace  at  meals, 

1 13- 14;  head-coverings,  83, 
85,  100,  106,  109,  112-13, 

1 14- 15,  124;  “Herrites,”  125; 
horse  sheds,  97;  hymnals, 
1 16;  infants  in  church,  95; 
instrumental  music,  96,  113; 
insurance,  life  and  theft,  10 1, 
103,  107;  kissing,  ceremonial, 

89,  100,  1 19,  120;  Lancaster 
Conference,  rules  and  discip¬ 


line,  101-5;  marriage,  88,  100, 
101-2;  Martyrs'  Mirror ,  91- 
92,  163;  Menno  Simons,  86- 
87;  ministers,  90,  91,  98-99, 
104,  no,  140,  147;  “New 
Mennonites,”  125;  number  of 
Mennonites,  125;  oaths,  not  to 
swear,  88,  101;  “Old  Men¬ 
nonites, ”  125;  origin,  86-87; 
ornaments  forbidden,  106,  108, 
1 13 ;  persecutions  and  wander¬ 
ings,  86,  89;  places  whence 
came  and  where  settled,  86,  89; 
Reformed  Mennonites,  125; 
Rittenhouse,  William,  90; 
Rosenberger  family:  many  of, 
members,  158,  including  Hein¬ 
rich  (pioneer),  90-91,  159; 

Heinrich,  Jr.  (minister),  140; 
and  (i)  Daniel,  14 1,  159; 

(ii)  David,  159;  (iii)  Chris¬ 
tian,  159;  (iv)  Jacob,  152,  160; 
also,  Benjamin  and  John,  141; 
schisms,  122-25,  147-48;  se¬ 
cret  and  other  organizations, 
not  to  be  members  of,  101,  103, 
106;  singing,  96,  107,  114, 
116-17,  118;  Sunday  observ¬ 
ance,  104;  Sunday-schools,  96, 
103-4,  120-21,  123,  124;  Van 
Bracht,  Thielman  J.,  91; 

typical  Pennsylvania  Germans 
in  most  respects,  86;  Year- 
Book  and  Directory ,  100 

Methacton.  See  Worcester 

Mittelberger,  Gottlieb,  18 

Montgomery  County,  3,  10,  76, 
89,  90,  140,  141-42,  158,  162. 
See  also  views  opp.  4,  10,  44, 
70,  84,  96,  108,  151 

Moravia  and  Moravians,  69,  89 

Muhlenberg,  Rev.  Henry  Mel¬ 
chior,  74 

Names,  spelling  of  family,  157-60 

New  England,  32 


INDEX 


New  Hanover,  view  of  Lutheran 
church,  opp.  70 

New  Netherland,  5 

New  Sweden,  5 

Northumberland  County,  155 

Nuts,  9 

Ohio:  accounted  “West,”  153; 
Alliance,  153-54;  Columbiana 
County,  154;  “Heim  Ceme¬ 
tery,”  154;  Moultrie,  154; 
Stark  County,  153 

Oilmill,  147 

One  Hundred  Necessary  Rules  of 
Conduct  for  Children ,  64 

Orchards,  1,  3,  36 

Palatinate  and  Palatines,  n,  12, 
14,  15-16,  18,  86,  89 

Paper  mill,  first,  90 

Pastorius,  Francis  Daniel,  6-8, 
17,  26-27,  51 

Penn,  William,  5-6,  1 5 

Pennsylvania,  appearance  now 
where  Germans  originally 
settled,  1-3,  and  when  they 
came,  3-4,  8-9;  early  settlers, 
4-6;  English  title  and  grant 
of  charter,  5;  New  Netherland, 
and  New  Sweden,  5;  popula¬ 
tion,  6,  9;  Upland,  or  Chester, 
and  then  Philadelphia,  the 
capital,  5-6 

Perkiomen  Creek,  10;  view,  opp. 
10 

Perkiomen  Region ,  Past  and 
Present ,  152 

Philadelphia,  6,  8,  n,  16,  25, 
27,  32,  37,  46,  47,  48-49,  5o, 
54,  59,  61,  62,  141 

Pioneers,  with  the,  24-41,  42 

Proverbs  and  superstitions,  127- 
38;  applied  by  farmers,  132- 
36;  contradictory,  131-32; 


171 

general,  128-29;  relative  to 
diseases  and  injuries,  136-38; 
superstitions,  129-38;  their 
origin  and  nature,  127 

Providence  Township,  147,  150 

Rattlesnakes,  9 

Records,  gleanings  from  old, 
139-63;  kept  in  English,  139; 
port  of  Philadelphia,  of  arriv¬ 
als  at,  11,  141;  some  in  Phila¬ 
delphia  for  Montgomery 
County,  141-42;  on  tomb¬ 
stones,  158-60;  of  wills  and 
estates,  139-53,  161-63 

Redemptioners,  20-23,  43~44J 
view  of  house  of  one,  opp.  44 

Reformed  church,  14,  69 

Religion,  10,  14,  23,  69^75,  79- 
80.  See  also  Mennonites 

Rhein,  trip  down,  18 

Rittenhouse  home,  view,  opp.  44 

Rittenhouse,  William,  90 

Roads  and  turnpikes,  37-38,  46 

Roman  Catholic  church,  14,  86, 

87 

Rosenberger,  (a)  Heinrich:  as¬ 
sumptions,  11,  140-41,  159; 
last  record,  140;  log  house, 
29,  43;  Palatine,  11;  pioneer 
in  Franconia  Township,  3; 
stone  house  built  on  farm,  43, 
and  view,  opp.  44;  Mennon- 
ite,  90-91;  name,  158;  (b) 

Heinrich,  Jr.,  43-44,  140-41 

Rosenberger  (i),  Daniel:  farmer 
in  Hatfield  Township,  141; 
Mennonite,  141,  159;  per¬ 
sonal  property  in  1771,  144- 
46;  spelling  of  name,  158; 
will,  141-43,  and  date  of 
death,  141 

Rosenberger  (ii),  David:  correct 
date  of  death,  148;  farmer, 


172 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GERMANS 


shown  by  will,  148-50;  Men- 
nonite,  159;  name,  158;  per¬ 
sonal  property  in  1821,  150 

Rosenberger  (iii),  Christian:  cor¬ 
rect  date  of  birth  and  of 
death,  159-60;  farmer,  15 1; 
Mennonite,  159;  personal 
property  in  1824,  151-52; 

view  of  house  he  perhaps 
built,  opp.  150 

Rosenberger  (iv),  Jacob,  farmer, 
153;  Mennonite,  152;  per¬ 
sonality  in  1831,  153;  was 
married  as  “Rosenberger,” 
152,  but  changed  name  to 
“Rosenberry,”  158,  160,  while 
on  tombstone  for  daughter  it 
is  again  “Rosenberger,”  160 

Rosenberger  (v),  Jesse,  Baptist, 
154;  farmer,  nurseryman, 
shoemaker,  and  sometime 
preacher,  153-54;  date  of 
birth,  153;  death,  154;  mar¬ 
ried  Esther  Heim,  154;  moved 
“West,”  153-754,  156;  por¬ 
trait,  frontispiece 

Rosenberger  (vi),  Jesse  Leonard, 
born  in  Lake  City,  Minn.,  156; 
married  Susan  Esther  Colver, 
school  principal,  in  Chicago, 
156;  writer,  157  [and  lawyer] 

Rosenberger:  Ann,  143;  Ann 
0 nee  Funk),  147-48;  Barbara 
(: nee  Dettwiler),  148-49;  Ben¬ 
jamin,  141;  Elizabeth  ( nee 
Kraut),  152;  Esther  ( nee 
Heim),  154-56;  Fronica,  142, 
144;  Isaac,  143;  John,  141; 
Maria  or  Mary  ( nee  Dett¬ 
wiler),  152,  160;  Mary,  143; 
Susan  Esther  ( nee  Colver), 
156;  Susannah,  160 

Rosenberger,  spelling  of  the 
name,  158-60;  texts  on  tomb¬ 
stones,  160 


Rosenberry.  See  Rosenberger, 
Jacob 

Rotterdam,  18 

Salford  Township,  76 
Saturn,  135-36 
Sawmills,  147 
“Schnitz,”  36,  59,  66 
School  Management ,  76 

Schools,  schoolhouses,  and 
schoolmasters.  See  Educa¬ 
tion 

Schuylkill  County,  155 
Schuylkill  River,  5,  47 
Schwerdle,  Johannes  M.,  43-44 
Simons,  Menno,  86-87 
Skippack  Creek,  10,  76;  view, 
opp.  10 

Skippack  Township,  76 
Skippack  village,  scene  at,  opp.  4 
Smokehouses,  52 
Snyder,  Mary,  154 
South  Abington,  Mass.,  156 

Springhouses,  53,  149;  view  of 
one,  opp.  122 

Stoves,  51-53,  93,  144,  149,  I5L 
162;  view,  opp.  96 

Superstitions.  See  Proverbs  and 
superstitions 

Swartley,  Henry  Rosenberger,  44 
Swedes,  5,  6,  32 
Switzerland,  86,  122 

Tan-yards,  147 
Taverns,  61-62,  66-67 
Telephones,  123,  124,  164 
Thirty  Years’  War,  n,  12 

Through  Three  Centuries;  Colver 
and  Rosenberger  Lives  and 
Times ,  1620-1922,  156 


INDEX 


173 


Trappe,  view  of  Lutheran  church 
at,  70 

Travels ,  61 

Upland,  5 

Van  Bracht,  Thielman  J.,  91 

Vehicles,  37-38,  47~48,  71-72, 
97,  150,  I5L  152,  153 

Vendues,  65 

Vinegar,  36,  59,  145,  151,  153 

Wack,  Rev.  George,  152 

War  between  England  and 
France,  91 

War  of  the  Grand  Alliance,  12 

War  of  the  Spanish  Succes¬ 
sion,  12 


Washington,  82 

Weld,  Isaac,  Jr.,  61 

Whitman,  Mass.,  156 

Wills,  old,  140,  141-43,  148-50, 
161-63 

Women,  37,  38,  39-40,  65,  66, 
67-68,  71.  See  also  Clothing 
and  Mennonites 

Worcester  or  Methacton  Men- 
nonite  cemetery,  159-60; 
church,  view  of,  opp.  108 

Worcester  Township,  153 

Wtirttemberg,  Germany,  155 

Youth's  Christian  Companion, 
109 

Zweibrucken,  n 


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